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Scott W. Tinker, Director

Global Reach, Wide-Ranging Research

Contents

1 Message from the Director

2 The Bureau of Economic Geology 2017: Global Reach, Wide-Ranging Research

10 Research Consortia

Bureau partnerships with industry and other organizations tackle global

environmental, energy, and energy-economics research questions.

17 Events

At home and around the world, Bureau research and outreach activities

make an impact.

28 Honors

Bureau researchers and students are regularly recognized both

at home and abroad for their achievements.

32 Publications Articles, reports of investigations, guidebooks, and maps by Bureau

researchers add volumes to the world’s understanding of geoscience.

42 Transitions

44 Visiting Committee

Representatives from industry, government, and not-for-profit

organizations offer vital counsel to help guide Bureau research thrusts.

45 Finances

Cover images: Our work in 2017 brought into focus the broad programmatic and geographic reach of the Bureau. The icons spotlighted here represent the 2017 activities of the Advanced Energy Consortium, EarthDate, the Gulf Coast Carbon Center, our international initiatives, the Near Surface Observatory, TexNet, unconventional reservoirs research, and research into the water–energy nexus.

Annual Report 2017 | 1

Measures of quality in academia include such things as reputation, impact, and reach.

Reputation is built from participation in professional meetings; publication in journals and books; awarding of medals and fellowships; and competing for and receiving funding from various government agencies, industries, and foundations. Impact can be harder to quantify but includes citations in the published literature, patents, licensing and commercialization, and in some cases real-world application of research.

But what is reach, and why does it matter? At the Bureau, our global reach begins with staff diversity: cultural, political, religious, socioeconomic, and educational. Over 25 nations from six continents are represented on our permanent staff. Postdocs and students broaden that representation further. These talented individuals serve as a living network of emissaries weaving the Bureau into the fabric of universities, industry, governments, and the global public.

Reach is also defined by geography. Geology knows no geopolitical boundaries, and our reach in the field is literally and figuratively boundless. Fieldwork is conducted on mountains and in canyons; along coasts and on islands; across deserts and glaciers; in oceans, lakes, and rivers; from the air, on land, and under the sea. We even go beyond global boundaries to investigate other planets and moons.

Reach also involves science. Bureau professionals have backgrounds in the geoscience disciplines of geology, geophysics, seismology, petrophysics, geochemistry, and more. Our ranks further include petroleum, chemical, mechanical, and civil engineers; energy and environmental economists; doctors of medicine; and biologists.

Why is reach important? Because reach measures relevance and influence. In academia there exists the risk of becoming isolated—somewhat walled off from the world in a knowledge quest. Reach knocks down walls and builds global pathways.

We are privileged to be part of the Bureau of Economic Geology at The University of Texas at Austin. It is not only important but in many ways our duty to share our ideas and knowledge, and to do our best to make the world a better place.

We strive to do that every day.

Message from the Director

2 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Advanced Energy Consortium Exploring the Subsurface with NanotechReaching across the globe to unite

diverse teams of researchers in find-

ing solutions to problems at the

intersection of two distinct scienti-

fic disciplines might seem like an

impossible undertaking, but not for

the Bureau of Economic Geology.

“What if we could insert ‘smart dust’

down a borehole that would tell us

more about the chemical

and physical makeup of

the subsurface?”

That was the big ques-

tion posed 10 years ago

b y B u r e a u d i r e c t o r

S c o t t W. T i n k e r t h a t

launched the Advanced

E n e r g y C o n s o r t i u m

(AEC) , a complex merger

of nanotechnology and

oil and gas exploration

that has produced some

fascinating research. The

AEC brings together sci-

entists, graduate students,

and postdocs from around

the world , a l l focused

on answering Tinker ’s

“big question.” These re-

searchers are developing

practical applications to

real-world problems (“use

cases”) that supporting

partners believe nanotech-

nology can better address.

T h e u s e c a s e s i nvo lve u s i n g

nanoparticles to map fracture

systems, track waterfloods, and

increase hydrofracturing effective-

ness. The AEC has also developed

time-released nanoscale payload-

delivery particles to transport im-

portant cargo to specific parts of the

subsurface reservoir. AEC research-

ers also developed a tiny electronic

nanosensor that can report downhole

conditions such as temperature and

pressure. In 2017, researchers con-

ducted numerous field tests of these

nanotechnologies to better simulate

the harsh and complex conditions

encountered in the subsurface.

Sponsoring partners of the AEC

have invested over $50 million in

these productive research efforts

over the years. Sponsors in 2017

include ExxonMobil, Shell, Total,

Repsol, BHP Billiton, and the U.S.

Department of Energy through

Sandia National Laboratories.

For more information about how

you, your company, or your institu-

tion can become involved in this in-

novative research, please contact Jay

Kipper at jay.kipper@beg.utexas.edu.

Multicore microsponges encapsulate and delay release of 12M HCl cargo (upper). Autonomous electronic nanosensors (lower).

Annual Report 2017 | 3

EarthDate  Reaching the World on the Radio Expanding its mission to reach as

many people as possible with accu-

rate and educational geoscience in-

formation, the Bureau of Economic

Geology launched a new radio pro-

gram in 2017, EarthDate, which pro-

vides a fun and informative way for

listeners to discover the natural won-

ders of Earth, both past and present.

Debuting in April, EarthDate now

airs on over 250 radio stations

nationally, as well as on stations

in Canada, New Zealand, and the

Philippines.

Hosted by Scott W. Tinker , State

Geologist of Texas and director of

the Bureau, EarthDate offers lis-

teners of all ages and backgrounds

fresh perspectives on the geology,

environment, and major geologic

events of our fascinating planet.

Recent episodes have examined

phenomena like the 2017 solar eclipse

and the effects of magnetic storms;

historical happenings like “The

Year Without a Summer” and the

five Great Extinctions; Earth’s crea-

tures like our 3-million-year-old

ancestor, Lucy, and a 65-million-

year-old baby sauropod; and modern

marvels like the minerals in smart-

phones and exactly how GPS helps

us navigate.

To listen to episodes or download

fa c t s he e ts ( e s pe c i a l ly he l p f u l

for classroom instruction), visit

http://ear thdate.org . To see if

your city carries EarthDate , visit

http://earthdate.org/about.

For information on sponsorship op-

portunities, please contact Mark W.

Blount at mark.blount@beg.utexas.

edu or 512-471-1509.

4 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Gulf Coast Carbon Center Mapping CO2 Storage in 3DThe Bureau’s Gulf Coast Carbon

Center (GCCC) is renowned interna-

tionally as one of the foremost ac-

ademic research institutions investi-

gating carbon capture and storage.

In 2017, the GCCC’s Tip Meckel led a

crew of 20 on a 6-day data-collection

cruise off Japan’s north island of

Hokkaido. Meckel’s team arrived in

Japan with unique acoustic instru-

mentation for three-dimensional

mapping of the geology below the

seafloor with ultra-high resolution.

The key to the equipment is a set of

four 25-m-long streamers containing

eight-channel acoustic sensors that

are towed behind a research vessel.

When an acoustic signal from a com-

pressed air source is deployed, chang-

es in the speed of the sound re-

turning to the dense array of sensors

are converted to a very fine scale

3D model of the geology beneath

the seafloor.

The survey was conducted off-

shore from the industrial port of

Tomakomai, the site of an extensive

CO2 capture, transport, and injection

demonstration project. At the time

of the survey, approximately 65,000

tons of CO2 had been injected into

a geologic formation 1,100 m below

the seafloor. The ultimate goal of the

project is to store 100,000 tons of

CO2 per year.

The surveys conducted in 2017 were

the first to attempt high-resolution

subsurface imaging at an active off-

shore CO 2 demonstration pro-

ject. Obtaining such information re-

duces the risk of leakage and could

provide an estimate of the volume

of CO2 stored in the reservoir.

Meckel notes that the technology is

suitable for deployment at other off-

shore sequestration sites, including

sites located in the Gulf of Mexico.

For information, please contact

Meckel at tip.meckel@beg.utexas.

edu.A compressed air acoustic source deployed at the Tomakomai CO2 storage demonstration project in Hokkaido, Japan.

Annual Report 2017 | 5

The Bureau of Economic Geology

conducts research and establish-

es partnerships around the world.

From the Arctic to Australia, Bureau

researchers travel to wherever the

science leads. In 2017, the Bureau

continued to enhance its broad in-

ternational presence.

In January, the Bureau hosted a

group of twelve researchers and

managers from Statoil, Norway’s

national energy company, for its

inaugural professional-development

training course. The week-long series

of highly interactive presentations

and activities exposed the rising

stars from Statoil to a broad range

of Bureau research and industry-

engagement efforts.

For over a decade, the Bureau has

worked di l igently to establish

productive relationships with in-

dustry and academics in China.

In August , the Bureau hosted

a d e l e ga t i o n f r o m C h i n a — in-

cluding leaders from the country’s

environmental regulatory authority,

the Chinese Assessment Center of

Environment and Engineering—for a

day of presentations and discussions

about advancing China’s fledgling

shale-gas exploration industry and

promoting that country’s natural-gas

production without overly restrictive

environmental regulations.

Also in August, the Bureau cohosted

a large delegation from Mexico for

2 days of discussions. Conducted

in conjunction with UT Austin’s

Department of Petroleum and

Geosystems Engineering (PGE), the

visit identified synergies between

the new exploration initiatives of

the government and energy indus-

try of Mexico and the advanced

energy research being conducted by

the Bureau and PGE.

In October, Bureau director Scott W.

Tinker and lead researchers Julia

Gale and Svetlana Ikonnikova

traveled to Qingdao, China , at

the invitation of the president of

the China University of Petroleum,

geoscientist Dr.   Fang Hao, and

entered into a memorandum of

understanding ensuring future

collaboration between the two in-

stitutions on research into uncon-

ventional reservoirs and shales.

International Initiatives Partnering Across the Globe

Bureau and China University of Petroleum delegates

meet in Qingdao, China.

6 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Near Surface Observatory  Responding to Hurricane HarveyAmong the many capabilities of the

Bureau of Economic Geology is the

vital disaster-response capacity of

the Near Surface Observatory

(NSO) and its skillful team.

In August, Hurricane Harvey reached

Category 4 status, bringing extreme

winds, heavy rainfall, massive flood-

ing, and moderate storm surge to

the open coast and bays of Texas.

Within a week of landfall, research-

ers at the Near Surface Observatory

began acquiring airborne lidar data

and imagery to assess storm impacts

on the beach and dune system along

the Texas Gulf shoreline, identify

debris and infrastructure damage

in Texas bays, and establish a base-

line for monitoring beach and dune

recovery in the months and years

to come. These surveys were flown

as part of the Texas General Land

Office (GLO) comprehensive re-

sponse to the ongoing effects of

Hurricane Harvey.

To make data available to emergency

responders as quickly as possible, the

Bureau team developed an around-

the-clock process to make data avail-

able to state agencies the day after

it was acquired. Aaron Averett flew

in the aircraft, handing data off to

John Hupp for processing at the

end of each flight day. Hupp then

passed the data to John  Andrews,

who created preliminary digital el-

evation models and georeferenced

aerial photographs, all of which were

then uploaded to GLO to support

its emergency response. Tiffany

Caudle served as liaison with the

Texas Department of Transportation

for aircraft usage and verified data

quality and coverage before deliv-

ery. Kutalmis Saylam deployed GPS

base stations in some of the most

storm-ravaged areas on the Central

Texas coast. Julie Duiker and her

team worked with GLO and UT Austin

to ensure contractual requirements

were met in record time. Jeffrey G.

Paine (jeff.paine@beg.utexas.edu)

served as principal investigator.Aerial image taken from survey aircraft of extensive damage to Rockport, Texas, by Hurricane Harvey.

Annual Report 2017 | 7

TexNet Tracking Tremors Across Texas Trusted for the validity of its

wide-ranging research and its broad

capacity to undertake and success-

fully coordinate significant, multi-

faceted initiatives, the Bureau of

Economic Geology was authorized

by the Texas governor and the state

legislature to deploy and operate

TexNet, the most advanced state-

run seismic-monitoring system in

the country.

In 2017, the Bureau finished installing

TexNet and now, thanks to a new

interactive website, the public can

follow and sort Texas seismic activity

in real time.

TexNet includes 22 permanent

monitoring stations, which brings

the state’s total number of perma-

nent seismic stations to 40. A team

led by Bureau research scientist

Alexandros Savvaidis managed the

design, installation, and testing of

the statewide network. The system

also includes 40 portable seismic sta-

tions that are being used to increase

the density of stations in areas with

recent increased seismicity, such as

the Dallas–Fort Worth area, South

Texas, the Delaware Basin, and the

Snyder area of West Texas. These

portable stations allow for detailed

examination of the location, depth,

size, and frequency of earthquakes

so scientists and engineers can better

assess their causes.

The seismic-monitoring system is

being operated in parallel with the

Center for Integrated Seismicity

Research (CISR), a multidisciplinary

research team led by Bureau research

scientists Peter Hennings and Ellen 

Rathje. CISR conducts fundamental

research to better understand natural

and induced earthquakes in Texas.

“Governor Abbott and the Legislature

have put Texas at the forefront of

data collection and research into the

causes of seismicity in the state,” said

Bureau director Scott W. Tinker, who

led the formation of TexNet in 2015.

“Small earthquake events have be-

come more common in Texas recent-

ly, and we are now positioned to learn

more about them and, hopefully, to

understand how to mitigate their

impacts in the future.”

For more information on TexNet

and CISR, and to view the interactive

web page, visit www.beg.utexas.edu/

texnet or contact alexandros.

savvaidis@beg.utexas.edu.

The TexNet Earthquake Catalog allows users to view and filter seismic data collected by the TexNet earthquake monitoring system.

8 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Unconventional Reservoirs Research Lending Expertise to UnconventionalsThe Bureau of Economic Geology has

supported the energy industry with

a wide range of research for decades.

So, it was only natural that when the

“shale revolution” spread to source-

rock basins across the country, the

Bureau responded to the new tech-

nology and new scientific questions

of operators by bringing together

multidisciplinary teams to research

the quandaries and the potential of

these unconventional reservoirs.

Respected and often-cited Bureau

studies have used an integrated

approach when looking at the

production and reserve capacity of

four of the largest shale-gas basins

and two of the largest shale-oil

basins in the U.S. Such an approach

brings together geologic analysis,

well-decline analysis, recovery and

productivity statistical analysis, and

well economics to project production

outlooks using a multiscenario

model. New data builds evolving

3D models of select basins.

In 2017, the shale study team fo-

cused on extensive research within

the Tight Oil Resource Assessment

(TORA) consortium, assessing the

production and reserve capacity of

the complex multilayered and het-

erogeneous tight formations of the

Permian Basin. 2017 also saw the

launch of the 3D Resource Reserve

and Production (3DRP) consortium,

an initiative set up to keep the orig-

inal integrated, granular shale-basin

studies continually updated.

Many long-running research initia-

tives of the Bureau have uniquely

experienced researchers who share

information and answer ques-

tions about unconventional reser-

voirs. Among these is the Mudrock

Sys te m s Res ea rch L aborator y

(MSRL) , which conducts integrat-

ed, multiscale, and multidisciplinary

research in mudrock systems, and

the Reservoir Characterization

Research Laboratory (RCRL), which

uses outcrop and subsurface geologic

and petrophysical data from carbon-

ate reservoir strata for developing

new and integrated methodologies

for better understanding and describ-

ing the 3D reservoir environment.

Shell–UT Unconventional Research

(SUTUR) is a strategic collabora-

tion to improve the efficiency, ef-

fectiveness, and sustainability of

the exploration, development, and

production of unconventional oil

and gas resources through applied

research. The collaborative effort

brings together researchers from

the Bureau of Economic Geology and

Department of Geological Sciences at

the Jackson School of Geosciences,

from UT’s Center for Petroleum and

Geosystems Engineering (CPGE) at

the Cockrell School of Engineering,

and from Shell R&D teams to address

critical problems in unconventional

oil and gas. SUTUR II, which com-

menced in 2016, is an integrated study

of the geologic origin of water pro-

duced from the oil-bearing shales of

the Delaware Basin in West Texas.

For more information about the

Bureau’s extensive capabilities in

unconventional reservoirs research

and how you can benefit from them,

please contact Associate Director for

Energy Research Mark Shuster at

mark.shuster@beg.utexas.edu.

Annual Report 2017 | 9

Water–Energy Nexus Leading Water-Use StudiesBureau of Economic Geology studies

range across the broad spectrum of

energy, environmental, and energy-

economics research. Among the

Bureau’s most important areas of

study over the past decade have

been the interplay between water

utilization and energy production,

dubbed by some the “Water–Energy

Nexus.” Research into this intersec-

tion between water and energy re-

sources is vital because both are

important for healthy economies

and societies. Understanding these

connections is also imperative as

population grows and these re-

sources become more complicated

to manage and utilize.

Among the research completed in

2017 was a study led by Bureau

senior research scientist J.-P. Nicot

that found that high levels of

methane in well water from two

counties ear Fort Worth are probably

from shallow natural-gas deposits

and not natural-gas leaks caused by

hydraulic-fracturing operations in

the underlying Barnett Shale.

Another widely read 2017 study

conducted by Bureau researchers

Bridget Scanlon , Robert Reedy ,

Fra n k M a l e , a n d M a r k Wa l s h

h i g h l i g h t s ke y d i f fe r e n c e s i n

water use between conventional oil

and gas drill sites and “unconvention-

al” sites that use hydraulic fracturing,

a practice that is rapidly expanding

in the Permian Basin. Results of this

study indicate that recycling wa-

ter produced during operations at

hydraulic-fracturing sites could help

reduce potential problems associated

with the technology.

Permian Basin and distribution

of oil wells in region. (Credit:

Bridget Scanlon/UT Austin.)

Distribution of dissolved methane across the Barnett Shale play (457 groundwater

wells). Numerous small red dots represent gas wells.

(Credit: J.-P. Nicot/UT Austin.)

10 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Research ConsortiaAdvanced Energy Consortium

The Bureau is pleased to announce the launch of its new-est consortium: 3D Resource Reserve and Production (3DRP). The Bureau leads the world in basin-scale re-source characterization and production modeling, and membership in 3DRP gives you first access to integrat-ed, granular, and updatable models for the major shale oil and gas plays in the United States, including the Marcellus, Haynesville, Barnett, Fayetteville, Bakken, and Eagle Ford.

Benefits included high-resolution 3D geomodels (original gas-in-place and oil-in-place, nonbound water-in-place, and derivative maps); statistical estimates of per-well productivity; well economics incorporating decline analysis; and production-outlook and expected-drilling scenarios.

3DRP models—originally developed with multi-million-dollar grants from the Sloan and Mitchell Foundations, State of Texas, and U.S. Department of Energy—will be updated by a team of geoscientists, petrophysicists, hydrologists, physicists, engineers, statisticians, and economists. This extensively published research helps the group educate the public and inform the decisions of state, federal, industry, and financial stakeholders. Original and future research integrates academic approaches and industry expertise to address important questions raised by key stakeholders both in the U.S. and globally.

Principal Investigator: Svetlana Ikonnikova (svetlana.ikonnikova@beg.utexas.edu)

The internationally recognized Advanced Energy Consortium (AEC) is dedicated primarily to achieving a transformational understanding of subsurface oil and natural gas reservoirs through the deployment of unique micro- and nanosensors. However, given the ongoing push toward reducing carbon-dioxide emissions into the atmo-sphere, the technology developed by the AEC is proving to have a much broader potential application portfolio. Areas of clear potential include hot dry rock (HDR) geo-thermal; seal integrity and other applications for mea-surement, monitoring, and verification (MMV) in carbon capture and storage (CCS); mining applications; cement integrity in nuclear waste; and nuclear-power generation.

Founded in 2008, the vision of the AEC is to illumi-nate oil and gas reservoirs and improve hydrocarbon recovery with novel micro- and nanosensing technology developed collaboratively with the global research com-munity and our members. The AEC has invested more than $50 million in research, with a combined 30 uni-versity and research facilities around the world. Since inception, the AEC has progressed from fundamental research to applied research targeting commercial ap-plications (“use cases”) that will help members enhance their commercial extraction of oil and natural gas.

In only 9 years, the progress of the consortium has been remarkable. The AEC has created a whole new scientific space, published hundreds of peer-reviewed papers, created a patent portfolio exceeding 40 in-ventions, and is now on the verge of completing commercial-scale proof-of-concept tests. The AEC an-ticipates the generation of real commercial products in the next 12–24 months, as well as the initiation of new areas of research.

Principal Investigators: Scott W. Tinker and Jay Kipper (jay.kipper@beg.utexas.edu)

3D Resource Reserve and Production

Annual Report 2017 | 11

Applied Geodynamics Laboratory

Center for Energy Economics

The Applied Geodynamics Laboratory (AGL) is dedicated to producing innovative new concepts in salt tectonics. The AGL attempts to understand salt tectonics using three complementary approaches, which work together to build our understanding of salt deformation. The first approach involves kinematic and stratigraphic analysis of salt struc-tures in some of the world’s most spectacular salt basins. The second approach utilizes physical models to study the processes by which salt structures form and how these structures are affected by changing conditions. The third approach uses finite-element models to study the influence that salt movement has on stresses and fluid pressures in surrounding sediments.

Research results for 2017 include a comparison of salt tectonics in the eastern and western Gulf of Mexico, the differences explained as a consequence of rift geometries. Seismic interpretation in the northern Gulf of Mexico led to advances in understanding of minibasin fill and the evolution of Mesozoic alloch-thons at the downdip end of the basin. Other seismic- interpretation projects investigated shale diapirism in the western Mediterranean and strike-slip salt tectonics in China. Physical modeling successfully simulated evolution of the Salina del Bravo (western Gulf of Mexico), providing a mechanical explanation for the structures there. Other physical models showed structures formed by inversion of salt-bearing rifts, as well as progradation across such rifts. Finite-element modeling investigated heat flow around salt structures, the role of sand layers in controlling overpressure near salt, geomechanical evolution of material caught in salt-sheet sutures, and behavior of salt basins during con-tinental separation.

Principal Investigator: Mike Hudec (michael.hudec@beg.utexas.edu)

The Center for Energy Economics (CEE) performs research and provides training and outreach on energy-value-chain economics, markets, and frameworks for commercial and strategic investment.

Research highlights for 2017 include the CEE’s annual update of producer financial data, which showed the continuing trend of negative cash flows for the group of 16 shale-heavy producers. Capital market access for upstream onshore plays will be a focus of research for 2018.

The CEE monitors and evaluates many energy- and environmental-policy developments that can impact assumptions regarding the price of natural gas, re-newables expansion, and coal and nuclear retirements. Depending on these assumptions, 2017 dispatch mod-eling of the U.S. national grid yields a range of 23 bil-lion cubic feet per day in 2030 for gas burn in power generation. An in-depth 2017 look at system-integration costs for wind and solar indicated that simple lev-elized costs of electricity comparisons are mislead-ing; fully loaded wind and solar costs can beat those of a combined-cycle gas plant only in the best lo-cations and with natural-gas prices that are much higher than the 2011–17 average, even when including cost of emissions. CEE also completed work on a U.S. Department of State Bureau of Energy Resources upstream oil and gas technical-assistance grant in Mexico, collaborating to share best-practice approaches across oil and gas value chains.

The Center is externally funded through research grants and contracts, corporate and government partnerships at the federal and state levels, and executive education programs through UT’s McCombs School of Business. For more information, visit the CEE Think Corner: http://www.beg.utexas.edu/energyecon/think-corner.

Principal Investigators: Michelle Michot Foss (michelle.foss@beg.utexas.edu) and Gürcan Gülen (gurcan.gulen@beg.utexas.edu)

12 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Center for Integrated Seismicity Research

Deep Reservoir Quality Gulf of Mexico

The Center for Integrated Seismicity Research (CISR) hosts a multidisciplinary, intercollegiate research con-sortium that—together with TexNet and its state- funded network of seismometers across Texas—focuses on the integrated study of seismicity within the state and potential applications beyond. CISR’s research thrusts are designed to understand the subsurface processes that may influence seismicity, and to quantify and re-duce risk to the citizens and infrastructure of Texas. The CISR research team spans six University of Texas System units, as well as Southern Methodist University, Texas A&M University, Sam Houston State University, and Stanford University.

Currently there are seven major TexNet–CISR initiatives: maintaining and optimizing TexNet’s 22 permanent and 40 portable stations across Texas; analyzing, cataloging, and disseminating earthquake data; characterizing historical and current seismicity; characterizing reservoir mechanics of disposal intervals and fault-triggering processes; understanding earthquake hazards and risk in Texas; conducting studies of earthquake social science; and coordinating seismicity monitoring and related research activities in the south-central U.S. multistate region.

Among CISR accomplishments in 2017 was the launch of the TexNet Earthquake Catalog, a dynamic mapping web page that provides information on the location of monitoring stations and recorded earthquakes across the state for use by the public, regulators, energy industry, and researchers. Studies of seismicity in the Fort Worth Basin reached interim conclusion with new models of the disposal stratigraphy, stress state, fluid injection characteristics, mapping and identification of faults of concern, and earthquake triggering mechanisms. A first look at seismicity in West Texas was also completed.

Principal Investigators: Peter Hennings (peter.hennings@beg.utexas.edu), Ellen Rathje (e.rathje@mail.utexas.edu), and Alexandros Savvaidis (alexandros.savvaidis@beg.utexas.edu)

The goal of the Deep Reservoir Quality Gulf of Mexico project is to decrease reservoir risk for deep to ultra- deep drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) by provid-ing concepts and assembling data that can be used to forecast reservoir quality and stratigraphic architec-ture in deep prospects. This multidisciplinary study in-cludes interpretation of depositional environment and sequence-stratigraphic framework, petrographic anal-ysis of rock samples, statistical analysis of porosity/permeability relationships to controlling parameters, and burial-history modeling of key wells.

The focus of research in 2017 was the study of deposi-tional and diagenetic controls on reservoir quality in deepwater Wilcox sandstones deposited in the Lavaca submarine canyon and the comparison of these to flu-vial and shallow-marine sandstones deposited adjacent to Lavaca Canyon. The group also evaluated reservoir quality in deeply buried Wilcox sandstones in Brazoria County that were deposited within the transition from the outer slope to inner basin floor. Cores available from five wells in the Lower Wilcox in Lavaca Canyon display a variety of deepwater depositional environments and facies, including turbidite-channel fill, levee/overbank, and mass-transport deposits. Description and interpre-tation of these deepwater facies provided the context for understanding variation in reservoir quality caused by differences in grain size, sorting, matrix, silt, ductile- grain content, and diagenesis.

Lavaca Canyon sandstones are good analogs for deepwater Wilcox sandstones in the Gulf of Mexico because they have similar composition, reservoir quality, and thermal maturity. Reservoir quality in both the Lavaca Canyon Wilcox sandstones and in deepwater Gulf of Mexico Wilcox reservoirs is highly influenced by depositional processes and energy, by compaction, and, to a lesser extent, by cementation.

Principal Investigator: Shirley Dutton (shirley.dutton@beg.utexas.edu)

Annual Report 2017 | 13

Fracture Research and Application Consortium

Gulf Coast Carbon Center

The Fracture Research and Application Consortium (FRAC) conducts basic and applied research leading to accurate characterization and prediction of natural fractures in the subsurface, and to a better understanding of how these fractures influence production operations, including their interaction with hydraulic fractures. Established in 1998, FRAC works with companies engaged in fractured reservoirs, unconventionals in all rock types, and hydraulic-fracturing research ranging from physical and numerical experiments to the development of computer-modeling code.

Accurately predicting the attributes of natural and induced fractures is key to cost-effective resource extraction. FRAC uses a wide range of approaches, from subsurface analysis to outcrop studies; its diverse expertise includes engineering, geomechanics theory, rock testing and modeling, structural geology, advanced microstructural imaging, diagenetic characterization, and diagenetic modeling. The integrated structural-diagenesis approach to fracture and fault analysis began within FRAC.

Highlights in 2017 include advances in combining rigorous mechanics and geochemistry to understand the feedbacks in natural fracture growth, and incorporation of these effects into geomechanical models. Development and testing of these models in collaboration with member companies leads to more-accurate and testable pre-drill fracture predictions. Another area of progress was development of breakthrough analytical approaches to quantify fracture size distributions and spatial arrangements. The new approach to analysis of spatial organization was published in 2017, and the associated software is expected to be of great use in reducing costs and uncertainty in horizontal-drilling operations.

Principal Investigator: Stephen E. Laubach (steve.laubach@beg.utexas.edu)

The Gulf Coast Carbon Center (GCCC) is an industry–academic partnership conducting research on mitiga-tion of industrial CO2 emissions by the process of carbon capture and geologic storage. Key areas of research include selecting suitable subsurface settings for large-volume storage and providing assurance that storage is effective. The GCCC develops practical and informative assessments using numerical models, laboratory studies, and small- and large-scale field studies.

Recent GCCC progress ranges from very technical to highly policy relevant. Work on small-scale physical and numerical models is needed to assess initial saturation in order to more accurately assess storage capacity and allocate residual trapping, which improves upscaling and constrains CO2 migration rates. In an attractive initial step of carbon capture, use, and storage, assessment of life-cycle carbon balance of CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects based on calibrated models of two sites shows the key role played by operator choices in the carbon storage value. Two conceptual improvements in monitoring are a new focus on signal attribution and a methodology for assessment of low-probability material impacts (ALPMI), a proactive method of forward-modeling risks to optimize monitoring.

A major current initiative considers technical, regulatory, and economic pathways for developing volumetrically significant and high-value storage in near-offshore environments. Highlighted activities include developing projects along the Gulf Coast, a collaboration with a unique offshore project in Japan, and successful global networking. The group continues its monitoring at major commercial storage sites.

Principal Investigator: Susan Hovorka (susan.hovorka@beg.utexas.edu)

14 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Mudrock Systems Research Laboratory

Quantitative Clastics Laboratory

The Mudrock Systems Research Laboratory (MSRL) continues to focus on defining the interrelationships among rock and fluid attributes in mudrock systems. The Eagle Ford Group remains an area of research interest; the MSRL integrates multiscale (subpore to interwell) data from the Eagle Ford, including detailed studies of horizontal core, to construct a geologic model that can be used to examine variations and importance of such key attributes as bed continuity, fluid flow, pore types and distribution, rock strength, and saturation.

New areas of research include the Wolfcamp/Bone Spring section of the Delaware Basin, where the MSRL has assembled a suite of 20 cored wells and is conducting multidisciplinary analyses to define rock/fluid attribute variations at local and regional scales.

MSRL research on the Eagle Ford reservoir system is expanding into secondary targets of the upper Eagle Ford, Austin, and Buda to determine the relative importance of in situ versus migration-related hydrocarbon-charge pathways and the relationship pore systems and mineralogy have to these variations. Associated with this effort is upcoming study of new, immature Eagle Ford cores for information about original kerogen distribution and porosity and organic-matter evolution in the interrelated systems.

The MSRL continues to experiment with varying techniques for obtaining accurate mult iscale measurements of petrophysical properties, including relative permeability, in the Eagle Ford and other mudrock formations. Also underway are efforts to apply in situ dynamic micro-CT scanning to investigate fluid movement in mudrocks for a better understanding of multiphase flow and fluid distribution and their interrelationships with mineralogy.

Principal Investigator: Steve Ruppel (stephen.ruppel@beg.utexas.edu)

The Quantitative Clastics Laboratory (QCL) is a Bureau industry research collaboration focused on the sedimen-tology and stratigraphy of clastic depositional systems, with applications in reservoir modeling, uncertainty in subsurface stratigraphic correlation, and source-to-sink predictions for frontier exploration. Researchers use out-crop, subsurface, and Earth-surface data to investigate the processes and products of fluvial, shallow-marine, and deepwater depositional systems, with the aim of determining the impact of realistic modeling of reservoir architecture and facies distribution on reservoir perfor-mance of these systems. To predict reservoir presence and quality, researchers also use multi-proxy provenance analysis to understand external drivers and paleogeog-raphy of sediment source areas, drainage networks, and depositional systems.

Sponsorship of the QCL grew during 2017, and the re-search team continues to enlarge its sphere of influence by presenting at international geoscience conferences and universities, and publishing peer-reviewed research in high-impact geoscience journals. The diverse QCL team expanded in 2017 with the hire of new research scientist Zoltan Sylvester, who is a former oil and gas industry expert in clastic sedimentology and seismic stratigraphy, as well as a world-class stratigraphic/res-ervoir modeler.

Sponsors of the consortium—which predominantly com-prises oil and gas companies, as well as government institutions such as the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management—can expect a comprehensive approach as the QCL research team carries out integrated geo-logic studies at multiple scales to develop models for processes and controls on sediment transport and the stratigraphic evolution of depositional systems.

Principal Investigator: Jacob Covault (jake.covault@beg.utexas.edu)

Annual Report 2017 | 15

Reservoir Characterization Research Laboratory

State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery Program

A hallmark of the Reservoir Characterization Research Laboratory (RCRL) program is its recognition of subsurface-characterization challenges that can be enhanced by the use of well-defined outcrop analogs, uniquely combined with a breadth of subsurface-characterization experience applied to problems im-portant to sponsors of the program. In its 30 years of research on carbonate systems, the RCRL has developed techniques that populate the carbonate sequence-stratigraphic framework with reservoir-flow properties to improve hydrocarbon recovery.

Yet many challenges still exist within carbonate reser-voirs, especially in the areas of integration of nonma-trix pore systems, pore-network-related diagenesis, and the realistic 3D variability of lithofacies distribution. The 2018 RCRL research program will cover multiple investigations and themes such as (1) platform-scale stratigraphy, (2) reservoir architecture and intra-play evo-lution, (3) structural and geomechanical characterization, (4) pore-network characterization, and (5) geochemical and chemostratigraphic analysis of carbonate systems.

One example of RCRL research is the role that older Paleozoic structures play both in controlling deformation styles and in the development and fracture intensity of the overlying younger Mesozoic carbonate strata. This concept—with its important implications in deciphering the role of early tectonic history on later fluid migration and potential hydrocarbon production—will form the basis for defining optimal drilling direction for unconventional resources. Another RCRL study utilizes an extensive regional seismic dataset of 2D and 3D lines to highlight the strike variability of Tertiary carbonate-platform architecture along strike of the North West Shelf of Australia. This investigation aids the development of regional-scale principles of carbonate stratigraphic architecture.

Principal Investigators: Charles Kerans (ckerans@jsg.utexas.edu) and Robert G. Loucks (bob.loucks@beg.utexas.edu)

The goal of the State of Texas Advanced Oil and Gas Resource Recovery (STARR) program is to increase royalty- and severance-tax income to the state from oil and gas production in Texas. Significant oil and gas production comes from unconventional shale plays in Texas, including the Eagle Ford and Wolfberry trends, which the STARR program has characterized for the state.

In the 2014–16 biennium, STARR added approximately $54 million to the state’s Permanent School Fund and General Revenue Fund from royalties and severance taxes from increased production. This revenue was the result of a wide variety of recent regional- and reservoir- characterization studies that include the Spraberry and Wolfcamp Formations in the Permian Basin, the Eagle Ford Trend in South Texas, the Eaglebine Trend in southeast Texas, Permian and Pennsylvanian reservoirs in the Eastern Shelf of the Permian Basin, the Wilcox Group in the Texas Gulf Coast, and Pennsylvanian-age reservoirs in the Texas Panhandle.

In the past 2 years, more than 20 oil and gas companies have participated in STARR integrated studies of important oil and gas plays. Many of the studies have been presented recently in workshops that provide up-to- date results and are a valuable resource for operators and explorationists in Texas. To date, the STARR program has generated more than 60 field studies. More than 50 Texas oil and gas operators have been involved in the STARR program over the project’s 25-year duration. STARR studies have been used to recommend more than 300 infill and step-out wells, as well as many recompletions in a wide variety of oil and gas fields across the state.

Principal Investigator: Bill Ambrose (william.ambrose@beg.utexas.edu)

Annual Report 2017 | 15

Reservoir Characterization Research Laboratory

State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery Program

A hallmark of the Reservoir Characterization Research Laboratory (RCRL) program is its recognition of subsurface-characterization challenges that can be enhanced by the use of well-defined outcrop analogs, uniquely combined with a breadth of subsurface-characterization experience applied to problems im-portant to sponsors of the program. In its 30 years of research on carbonate systems, the RCRL has developed techniques that populate the carbonate sequence-stratigraphic framework with reservoir-flow properties to improve hydrocarbon recovery.

Yet many challenges still exist within carbonate reser-voirs, especially in the areas of integration of nonma-trix pore systems, pore-network-related diagenesis, and the realistic 3D variability of lithofacies distribution. The 2018 RCRL research program will cover multiple investigations and themes such as (1) platform-scale stratigraphy, (2) reservoir architecture and intra-play evo-lution, (3) structural and geomechanical characterization, (4) pore-network characterization, and (5) geochemical and chemostratigraphic analysis of carbonate systems.

One example of RCRL research is the role that older Paleozoic structures play both in controlling deformation styles and in the development and fracture intensity of the overlying younger Mesozoic carbonate strata. This concept—with its important implications in deciphering the role of early tectonic history on later fluid migration and potential hydrocarbon production—will form the basis for defining optimal drilling direction for unconventional resources. Another RCRL study utilizes an extensive regional seismic dataset of 2D and 3D lines to highlight the strike variability of Tertiary carbonate-platform architecture along strike of the North West Shelf of Australia. This investigation aids the development of regional-scale principles of carbonate stratigraphic architecture.

Principal Investigators: Charles Kerans (ckerans@jsg.utexas.edu) and Robert G. Loucks (bob.loucks@beg.utexas.edu)

The goal of the State of Texas Advanced Oil and Gas Resource Recovery (STARR) program is to increase royalty- and severance-tax income to the state from oil and gas production in Texas. Significant oil and gas production comes from unconventional shale plays in Texas, including the Eagle Ford and Wolfberry trends, which the STARR program has characterized for the state.

In the 2014–16 biennium, STARR added approximately $54 million to the state’s Permanent School Fund and General Revenue Fund from royalties and severance taxes from increased production. This revenue was the result of a wide variety of recent regional- and reservoir- characterization studies that include the Spraberry and Wolfcamp Formations in the Permian Basin, the Eagle Ford Trend in South Texas, the Eaglebine Trend in southeast Texas, Permian and Pennsylvanian reservoirs in the Eastern Shelf of the Permian Basin, the Wilcox Group in the Texas Gulf Coast, and Pennsylvanian-age reservoirs in the Texas Panhandle.

In the past 2 years, more than 20 oil and gas companies have participated in STARR integrated studies of important oil and gas plays. Many of the studies have been presented recently in workshops that provide up-to- date results and are a valuable resource for operators and explorationists in Texas. To date, the STARR program has generated more than 60 field studies. More than 50 Texas oil and gas operators have been involved in the STARR program over the project’s 25-year duration. STARR studies have been used to recommend more than 300 infill and step-out wells, as well as many recompletions in a wide variety of oil and gas fields across the state.

Principal Investigator: Bill Ambrose (william.ambrose@beg.utexas.edu)

16 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Texas Consortium for Computational Seismology

Tight Oil Resource Assessment

The Texas Consortium for Computational Seismology (TCCS) is a joint multidisciplinary project of the Bureau of Economic Geology and the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES). TCCS is focused on (1)  addressing the most important and challenging research problems in computational geophysics as experienced by the energy industry, and (2) educating the next generation of research geophysicists and computational scientists. TCCS research, combining expertise in geophysics and applied mathematics, concentrates on such areas of seismic-data analysis as elastic reverse-time migration, full waveform inversion, automated seismic interpretation, time-lapse seismic-image registration, seismic-diffraction imaging, and seismic anisotropy. For computational experiments, TCCS develops open-source software tools and utilizes supercomputing resources provided by the Bureau and the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). Results are provided to the sponsors in a reproducible form.

Among TCCS research accomplishments in 2017 were the development of a new method for extracting fault surfaces; the application of predictive painting to pick residual moveouts in common image gathers (CIGs), using pattern information of CIG events as a guide to avoid picking aliased events; a semiautomatic method to efficiently and consistently tie available well-log data to seismic; and the application of a modified image-guided well-log interpolation method for initial subsurface model construction. Also in 2017, TCCS postdoc Xinming Wu received the 2016 Best Paper Award in Geophysics for co-authoring “3D Seismic Image Processing for Faults.”

Principal Investigator: Sergey Fomel (sergey.fomel@beg.utexas.edu)

The Tight Oil Resource Assessment (TORA) project, which began in July 2016, has built upon the exemplary research of the Bureau’s national Shale Production and Reserves Study to analyze the complex oil-rich source rocks of the Midland and Delaware Basins of the Permian Basin. TORA has adapted this study’s workflow to help predict ultimate hydrocarbon recoveries, economic viability, and play-wide production rates. The project is in the process of addressing the main tight-oil formations of the Permian Basin: the Spraberry, Wolfcamp, and Bone Spring.

TORA has bought together an integrated, multi-disciplinary team—including geologists, petroleum engineers, petrophysicists, economists, hydrologists, and GIS/database experts—from across UT Austin and beyond, employing a multifaceted approach to analysis of a wide variety of challenging subject areas, including geology and petrophysics, reservoir engineering, energy economics, and water-resource management.

TORA employs a bottom-up approach that starts with detailed geologic mapping and a well-by-well production analysis. Much of the Permian Basin mapping was completed in 2017. Future production outlooks will depend on economic considerations, including various price, cost, and technology-improvement scenarios. Water resources utilized in drilling and production operations and/or produced from the Permian Basin formations are also being thoroughly studied.

An integral part of TORA workflow is 3D geomodeling. Separate billion-cell geomodels of the Midland and Delaware Basins have been created, providing extra-ordinary geologic insight.

TORA sponsorship grew significantly in 2017. Many of the top tight-oil operators are sponsors, including the two most active operators in the basin. TORA held two industry sponsor meetings in 2017.

Principal Investigators: Bill Fairhurst (bill.fairhurst@beg.utexas.edu) and Svetlana Ikonnikova (svetlana.ikonnikova@beg.utexas.edu)

Annual Report 2017 | 17

Events

On October 5, the Bureau began con-

struction on its new core research

building, a project that will provide

advanced facilities for scientists con-

ducting research on cuttings and

core samples in the Bureau’s Austin

Core Research Center.

“Everything we do is built on rocks,”

said Bureau director Scott W. Tinker

during the groundbreaking ceremony.

“It’s exciting to have this new build-

ing to show what we’re all about.”

The Bureau, which also acts as the

State Geological Survey of Texas, has

the largest collection of geologic ma-

terial in the country in its three core

repositories in Austin, Houston, and

Midland. The repositories act as a

“Library of Congress” for core sam-

ples, holding more than 2 million

boxes of specimens. These cuttings

and core samples are fundamental

for research in oil and gas, mineral,

and geothermal exploration, as well

as in hydrogeology and other fields.

Scientific equipment in the new fa-

cility will include a scanning electron

microscope on a floating slab, a de-

sign that prevents vibrations from

traffic on nearby roads from interfer-

ing with the delicate instrument. The

10,000-sq-ft building will also include

a core viewing room exclusively for

use by students and Bureau research

staff. The roof of the building will

include a terrace for events.

The new building, scheduled for com-

pletion by fall 2018, will be located ad-

jacent to the Bureau’s headquarters

on The University of Texas at Austin

J. J. Pickle Research Campus. After

the new construction, the Bureau

will begin major renovations on the

building that serves as its current

core research center, a project that

should take 2 to 4 months. The plan

is to update 17 labs with state-of-the-

art equipment, as well as to update

the building’s interior design. In total,

the new building and renovations

will cost $10 million and are phase

one of a larger project, with phase

two including the construction of a

Texas rock garden between the old

and new buildings.

Bureau Breaks Ground on New Core Research Building

From left to right: Jackson School of Geosciences dean Sharon Mosher, Kenneth Edwards (BEG), Bureau assistant director Jay Kipper, Kim LaValley (BEG), Dr. Robert Loucks (BEG), Bureau director Scott W. Tinker, Mark Blount (BEG), Bureau assistant director Michael Young, Scott Mokry (UT architect and project manager), Chris Zahm (BEG), Bureau assistant director Mark Shuster, Toby Smith (Flintco project manager), and Lauren Alexander (Atkins architect).

Artist’s rendering of the Bureau’s state-of-the-art core research facilities.

18 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

In September, UT Austin president Gregory L. Fenves, in his first visit to the Bureau, joined Bureau staff at their annual f iscal-year- end gathering.

Bureau director Scott W. Tinker opened the event by thanking President Fenves for his strong support during and following the 2017 session of the Texas Legislature.

Although some Bureau programs suffered major cuts in state fund-ing during the session, President Fenves restored millions of dollars to those programs from the University’s overall state appropriations.

Sa i d Fe nve s , “ T h e Bu r eau o f Economic Geology is unique to the mission of the University. The work that you do has tremendous impact on the state.”

Bureau Welcomes UT President Fenves

Director Tinker (third from right) joins President Fenves (second from right) and Bureau staff in a horns-up tribute to the University.

The U.S. Department of Energy has granted the Bureau $4 million to lead a regional partnership to explore how carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from industrial facilities along the Gulf Coast can be safely stored in geologic formations under the Gulf of Mexico.

The 4-year program will be led by the Bureau’s Gulf Coast Carbon

Center (GCCC) and include institu-tions and partners from UT Austin and throughout the nation. The goal of fostering safe, long-term storage of CO2, a greenhouse gas that is linked to climate change, in-volves capturing CO2 from industri-al facilities, transporting it offshore, and injecting it into a geologic for-mation deep beneath the seabed,

where it would remain safely stored and isolated from the ocean water.

“This is the type of science that aims at tackling big issues by bringing government, industry, community stakeholders, and academia togeth-er to create innovative solutions. It builds on the work our GCCC has been doing the past 15 years in se-

questration,” said Bureau director Scott W. Tinker.

The partnership’s mission includes researchers from UT Austin’s Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) and Cockrell School of Engi-neering, U.S. Geological Survey, Louisiana Geological Survey, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Law-rence Livermore National Laboratory, Lamar University, and Trimeric Corporation.

DOE Grants Bureau $4 Million for CCS

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HOUSTON

CO2 PipelineCO2 Sources

!( Prospective CO2 –EOR

Hydrocarbons–Federal WatersHydrocarbons–State WatersProject Study Area

Offshore 3D Seismic DataFederal–State Boundary (GoM)

BEAUMONT TX LA

PORTARTHUR Gulf of Mexico

0 5025Miles

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TEXASCITY

Miocene Structure (SB_M09)Depth below sea floor

DEEP (2.5 sec TWTT)

SHALLOW (1.5 sec TWTT)

Map identifying opportunities for CO2 hub development in southeast Texas incorporating offshore storage.

Annual Report 2017 | 19

In June, the Bureau’s Gulf Coast

Carbon Center (GCCC) hosted three

events in the Beaumont–Port Arthur

area to consider both local and global

opportunities to capture, transport,

and store CO2 in deep geologic for-

mations beneath the Gulf of Mexico.

The second International Workshop

on Offshore Geologic CO2 Storage,

facilitated by the Bureau’s Katherine

Romanak and Tim Dixon from

the International Energy Agency

Greenhouse Gas (IEAGHG) R&D

Programme, was held at the Center

for Innovation, Commercialization

and Entrepreneurship at Lamar

University in Beaumont and featured

presentations, posters, and discus-

sion by researchers, project devel-

opers, and regulators from China,

South Africa, Japan, Norway, France,

the Netherlands, the UK, Canada,

and across the United States. The

Carbon Sequestration Leadership

Forum (CSLF) supported travel for

several key participants.

Tip Meckel of the Bureau led a field

trip highlighting potential CO2 point

sources in the Port Arthur industrial

corridor, CO2 transportation options,

and the highly favorable geology

in this region. The thick Miocene

sandstones beneath state-owned

submerged lands in near-offshore

Texas provide a high-quality and ex-

ceptionally well-known resource for

CO2 storage that has been the topic

of Bureau investigations for decades,

resulting in significant publications

and recent major geologic storage–

focused research (Texas Offshore

Miocene Project , TXLA Offshore

CO2 Storage Resource Assessment,

The Search for CO2 Storage). The

trip included visits to GT OmniPort

and Air Products facilities.

Events concluded with a workshop

and open house, hosted by Lamar

University, to explore the connections

and opportunities between carbon

sources and sinks in the Gulf Coast,

as part of the CarbonSAFE project.

The project, supported by the U.S.

Department of Energy, examines the

implementation of carbon capture

and storage technology in the Golden

Tr i a n g l e A r e a ( B e au m o n t – Po r t

Arthur–Orange) of southeast Texas.

The information and ideas shared

during these events will hopefully

lead to international collaboration

on offshore CCS projects and, ulti-

mately, stimulate implementation

of CCS globally.

GCCC Hosts CO2 Events in Southeast Texas

Participants at the International

Workshop on Offshore Geologic

CO2 Storage at the new Center

for Innovation, Commercialization and

Entrepreneurship at Lamar University in

Beaumont.

20 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Since its founding in 1909, the Bureau

has studied the economic viability

of the extraction of minerals from

Texas. Now, in conjunction with the

CEE, the Bureau’s Economic Minerals

Program will conduct research and

publish its findings on minerals in

specific energy-value-chain uses

and their supply–demand dynamics.

This new collaboration brings the

Economic Minerals Program’s exper-

tise in mineral geology and mining

engineering together with the CEE’s

expertise in mineral economics and

commercial frameworks.

Said Michelle Michot Foss , CEE

chief energy economist, “In order to

fully evaluate the economics and via-

bility of both conventional and alter-

native energy systems, it is vital that

we understand the resource endow-

ments and value-chain/supply-chain

economics of critical minerals.”

Some of the key minerals being stud-

ied now include hydraulic-fracturing

sand, lithium, cobalt, graphite, rare

earth elements, metallic ores, urani-

um, and aggregate resources. Areas of

research will include geologic map-

ping, resource estimation, extraction

and processing technology, commer-

cial frameworks, value chains, inter-

national trade, extraction economics

and industrial organization, and com-

mercialization.

For more information on how you

can be involved in this collabora-

tion between CEE and the Economic

Minerals Program, please contact

Brent Elliott at brent.elliott@beg.

utexas.edu.

The Center for Energy Economics (CEE) serves a vital role in bringing together energy-thought leaders— educating stakeholders on energy economics and commercial frameworks using comparative research to facilitate energy development. In 2017, the CEE met with various energy regulators to analyze the direction of the group’s ongoing research into the market forces shaping global energy, and it began a collaboration with the Economic Minerals Program to study the underlying market fundamentals that affect minerals and mineral commodities.

CEE Brings Together Energy Leaders

In May, the CEE invited stakeholders and supporters of its new member-funded research consortium, the Electric Power Research Forum (EPRF), for a “think day” to analyze and discuss how the EPRF will an-

alyze electricity mar-kets. These complex markets are undergo-ing transformation as utilities and regulatory authorities weigh the i m pa c t o f a b r o a d

spectrum of issues ranging from decreasing government subsidies, distributed generation, electricity storage, and carbon pricing to a reliable power-supply mix that includes renewable sources. One potential research thrust discussed was cost-benefit analyses of various power-delivery options. (For more information about participating in the comprehensive efforts of the EPRF, please contact Gürcan Gülen at gurcan.gulen@beg.utexas.edu.

In June, the CEE hosted its 5th  Mid-Year Meeting at its offices in Houston. A diverse group of experts presented information on some of the challenges and opportunities facing global energy industries. Natural-gas markets and related is-sues were explored in depth, as were retail electricity markets and a rel-atively new area for CEE research, the economics of mineral resourc-es required in power-generation operations and equipment.

Global Energy Strategy Meetings

Gürcan Gülen

Economic Minerals ProgramSand-resource research leaders Brent Elliott of the Economic Minerals Program and Michelle Foss of the CEE.

Continued on page 21

Annual Report 2017 | 21

A Closer Look at Sand ResourcesOne economically significant appli-cation of mineral resources studied by the CEE and Economic Minerals Program is the sand (proppant) used in fracking wells in the oil and gas industry. Fracking operations have seen a steady rise in the amount of sand used in each well, almost dou-bling in volume over the last 5 years. The United States produced 95 million metric tons of industrial sand in 2015, more than half of the global sand pro-duction; 71% of the U.S. tonnage was used as hydraulic fracturing sand and well-packing and cementing sand.

The Bureau is engaged in geologic mapping of sand resources, especially formations and units like the Hickory Sandstone of the Riley Formation that produce much of the tradition-al frac sand from Central Texas. Part of a sand-resource analysis includes the use of geospatial modeling tech-niques to map out the most favorable areas for exploration and resource extraction. Researchers determine where the sand is being transported, what kind of transportation infra-structure and possible pathways for transport (such as trucks or trains) exist, distances of quarry operations to metropolitan areas that may re-quire more resources as population grows, and other characteristics like

resource quality and stripping ratio to build a combined map of new favor-able sand-mining sites across Texas.

Because transportation costs make up a majority of the expense in distrib-uting sand for quarry operations to consumer site locations, the Bureau also creates transportation models that integrate costs, distances, routing, trans-loading, and other important factors to generate network datasets for all modes of transportation infra-structure in Texas. These models allow researchers to identify new infrastruc-

ture development opportunities and predict the impact of new transport infrastructure like railroads, highways, and freight-transfer stations near min-ing sites and hydraulic fracturing sites.

With sand resources playing a signif-icant role in the extraction of hydro-carbons from the prolific shale and tight oil formations of Texas and else-where in the U.S., sand research by the Bureau of Economic Geology will play an integral role in influencing the decisions of the American ener-gy industry for many years to come.

Rounded, relatively uniform grains like these from the Kermit sand are desirable for applications like fracking.

A quarry in the Hickory Sandstone of the Riley Formation. (Photo by Rich Kyle;

location courtesy of Proppant Specialists.)

Continued from page 20

22 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Ikonnikova Presents Energy Webinar

In July, Bureau research scientist and energy economist Svetlana Ikonnikova presented the webinar “Energy Forecasting: Shale Gas” with energy analyst John Staub of the U.S.

Energy Information Administration. Webcast by the AIChE Academy, the 1-hr talk covered key topics—especially the roles of technology, geology, and uncertainty in efforts to accurately forecast future shale production—that are central to Ikonnikova’s ongoing research as part of the Bureau’s comprehen-sive Shale Production and Reserves Study. Ikonnikova serves as co-PI of the program, among the most ex-tensive integrated studies of shale production and economics in the United States to date, and has au-thored or co-authored numerous papers resulting from that research.

The Bureau program recently con-cluded a comprehensive study of the Bakken unconventional resource in North Dakota and Montana and reported summaries of its findings at the Unconventional Resources Technology Conference held in Austin in July.

The “Energy Forecasting: Shale Gas” webinar can be viewed at the AlChe Academy site, which provides a wide range of educational resources for topics such as energy, chemical and biological engineering, and sustain-

ability and environment.

Svetlana Ikonnikova

In October, the State of Texas Ad-vanced Resource Recovery (STARR) program hosted a core workshop, “Shelf-to-Basin Architecture, Dep-ositional Systems, and Facies Vari-

ability of the Southern Eastern Shelf of the Permian Basin,” fea- turing presentations by Tucker F. H e n t z , W i l l i a m   A . A m b r o s e , Robert W. Baumgardner, and Fritz

Palacios. The event, spon-sored by the Austin Geo-l o g i c a l S o c i e t y, o f f e r e d a n i n - d e p t h o ve r v i e w o f shelf, shelf-edge, and slope- depositional-facies charac-teristics; stratigraphic vari-ations; and sedimentation trends across the southern Eastern Shelf and adjacent Midland Basin, a region that is currently the site of both conventional and unconven-tional exploration and pro-duction. For more information on the region, see the Bureau’s Report of Investigations 282.

The STARR program conducts geo-logic research that increases the pro-duction and profitability of oil and gas wells in the State of Texas. Since its inception in 1 996, STARR has helped raise $515.6 million in sev-erance tax revenues, offsetting the program’s $39.8 million funding in-vestment, and has undertaken more than 60  field (reservoir characteri- zation) and 15 regional studies. Over 50 Texas oil and gas operators par-ticipate in the program. Results of STARR regional studies are used by oil companies as the basic frame-work for their exploration efforts. Core workshops such as this one are a key component in the technol-ogy transfer process. To learn more about STARR and future workshops, please contact William Ambrose at william.ambrose@beg.utexas.edu.

William Ambrose (left) explains core samples to work-shop attendees.

STARR Hosts Core Workshop

Annual Report 2017 | 23

In October, the Bureau joined with area geoscience professionals to host the 18th Annual Austin Earth Science Week Career Day, which en-gages students in discovering earth sciences, encourages Earth steward-ship, and motivates geoscientists to share their knowledge of and enthu-siasm for our planet. Participants in-cluded 340 middle school students from Bastrop, Gorzycki, Ridgeview, and Bedicheck middle schools, joined

by the Eco-Explorers and Austin Area Homeschool Science Team.

Students participated in presenta-tions, demonstrations, and hands-on activities showcasing exploration geology, hydrology, seismology, geo-physics, paleontology, geologic map-ping, meteorology, planetary and solar system studies, gems and min-erals, archeology, and engineering. The events were led by approximate-

ly 65 geoscience professionals from the U.S. Geological Survey, Texas Water Development Board, City of Austin, TxDOT, Lower Colorado River Authority, KOKE FM radio, Texas Commission on Environment-al Quality, and others. Financial sponsors included Statoil (underwrit-ing sponsor), Austin Geological Society, Parsley Energy, Schlumberger, and The Subsurface Library of Midland.

18th Annual Austin Earth Science Week Career Day

Statoil volunteer Codie Kretzer shows a middle-school student how to use a hand lens to examine a 3-billion-year-old rock.

5th Annual Bureau Research SymposiumIn September, Bureau research sci-entists, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and support staff gathered for the 5th Annual Bureau Research Symposium, whose goal is to promote project collaborations and the interchange of ideas between researchers.

This year, the event showcased not only 32 posters illustrating re-search efforts but also a new for-mat suggested by staff: short oral

presentations, or “nanotalks.” Staff voted on their favorite poster and nanotalk presentations: the nano-talk “Deepwater Channel Trajectory Controls on Reservoir Connectivity” by Ph.D. candidate Paul Morris, and the poster “Topographic Control on the Subsurface Heat Budget of Ice Wedge Polygons” by Ph.D. candidate Chuck Abolt and Associate Director Michael Young.

John Hash of the GeoFORCE program leads students though the Great Global Race activity.

Leyon Greene of the Texas Water Develop-ment Board demonstrates aspects of the TexMesonet program to students.

Dr. Ali Goudarzi explains his poster “Pressure Management and CO2 Plume Control at the Devine Test Site, South Texas, by Means of Brine Extraction.”

24 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

I n t h e s p r i n g , Bu r e a u g r a d u -a te s tu d e n t s N i n g j i e H u a n d Dmitrii  Merzlikin participated in the inaugural Statoil Fellows Poster Session hosted by the company at its headquarters in Austin. Statoil Fellows are graduate students whose proposals supporting research ar-eas of importance to the company are selected in a competitive pro- cess for funding. Hu and Merzlikin

were among 13 Statoil Fellows from UT Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences (JSG) and the Cockrell School of Engineering who presented posters at the event, which provided an opportunity for executives and researchers of the company to meet and engage with their sponsored stu-dents. Statoil is an important partner of the Bureau in a number of its key research initiatives.

Hu’s poster was entitled “Depositional Controls on Reservoir Quality of a Mixed Sil iciclastic-Carbonate System, Lower Permian (Leonardian) Spraberry Formation, West Texas, USA”; his faculty advisors are Bureau research scientist Jake Covault and JSG’s David Mohrig. Merzlikin’s poster was entitled “Diffraction Imaging Using Azimuthal Plane-Wave Destruction”; his faculty ad-visor is Bureau research scientist Sergey Fomel.

Inaugural Statoil Fellows Poster Session

Attendees at the inaugural Statoil Fellows Poster Session. (Photo courtesy of Lorena Moscardelli.)

In March, Bureau staff members and volunteers participated in the annual Explore UT campus-wide open house, which is designed to broaden the horizons of students in Texas and to motivate them to pursue further education after high school.

S e n i o r R e s e a r c h S c i e n t i s t Sue Hovorka led the “What to Do with CO2: Cures for the Feverish

Earth” activity, which invited visitors to investigate how carbon dioxide emissions can be captured and stored through geologic sequestration. Bureau volunteers Emily Beckham, Jacob Anderson, Naiara Fernandez, and Luca Trevisan engaged visitors in experimenting with fire and ice to learn about carbon capture.

Research Scientists Dallas Dunlap and John Andrews presented chil-dren, teachers, and parents with “Exploring Earth’s Natural Energy Resources with 3D Visualization,” which explained how 3D technolo-gy and complex remote-sensing data sets allow geoscientists to harness energy sources while gaining greater understanding of our planet.

Explore UT: Discover What’s Next

Luca Trevisan (lower right) and Jacob Anderson (upper right) explain carbon capture to Explore UT visitors.

Dallas Dunlap (standing in left photo) and John Andrews (at left in right photo) prepare to show visitors a 3D presentation about energy resource exploration.

Annual Report 2017 | 25

In March, the Bureau hosted Industry Day 2017 at its Houston Research Center, where over 90  representa-tives from companies large and small attended the seminar featuring topics of current interest presented by the Bureau’s top researchers.

Among the presentations were up-dates on the progress of the Bureau’s renowned shale studies, including the Tight Oil Resource Assessment (TORA) project, its newest under-taking to understand the complex oil-producing formations of the Permian Basin. Also featured were a presentation on Bureau research into a novel tool to improve seismic imaging; a progress report on the status of the TexNet earthquake- monitoring network and its research arm, the Center for Integrated

Seismicity Research   (CISR) ; and a lunchtime overview of research related to water issues in shale- formation production.

Bureau director Scott W. Tinker welcomed Industry Day guests

with an overview of the Bureau’s major initiatives, stressing the vital importance and practicali-ty of industry partnerships and of industry suppor t for jo int research projects.

Industry Day 2017

Houston Research Center

In April, Bureau information geol-ogist Linda Ruiz McCall spoke to attendees at the unveiling of five new interpretive signs at the Goat Cave Karst Preserve in South Austin. The signs installed at the site en-courage good stewardship of the land and explain the karst terrain, endangered species, and interaction between surface water and ground-water in the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer system. Project partners include the City of Austin, the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, the Save Barton Creek Association, the Austin Parks Foundation, and many citizen volunteers.

The Goat Cave Karst Preserve signs are part of the broader Texas GeoSign Project , whose goal is to promote the understanding of geo-

logic information. McCall leads the project, which includes Bureau team members Chock Woodruff , Cari Breton , Jamie  Coggin , Cathy Brown , Amanda  Masterson , and

Jay Kipper . If you are interest-ed in learning more about this initiative, please contact Linda McCall at linda.mccall@beg.texas.edu.

Bureau Unveils New Texas GeoSigns

This Goat Cave Karst Preserve GeoSign is an

example of interpretive

signs teaching about the

geology and environment of

selected sites around Texas.

26 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

In 2017, Bureau research and support staff reached over 1,500 Texas K–16 educators and students, as well as members of community groups, with educational workshops, presenta-tions, training, and field experiences focusing on the geology of the state and on the innovative research of the Bureau.

Outreach to K–12 teachers included training on the Balcones Fault Zone Aquifer, Texas industrial minerals, geologic maps and satellite imagery, and rocks and minerals. Educators were also informed about EarthDate, the Bureau’s new public radio se-ries, and Texas Through Time, the Bureau’s recently released book about the geology of the state.

Outreach to K–12 students focused on careers in geoscience, rocks and minerals, earth processes, and re-search at the Bureau. Students from the GeoFORCE 12th-grade Summer Academy were given presenta-tions and tours of the Austin Core Repository. Bureau geoscientists Jeff Paine, Tiffany Caudle, Peter Flaig, and Linda Ruiz McCall also served as instructors for the GeoFORCE

Summer Academy programs. In ad-dition to in-person presentations, the Bureau’s distance-learning outreach offered 150 5th-grade students from Austin Elementary School in Irving, Texas, a virtual field trip via the in-ternet from Enchanted Rock to the Texas coast to learn about weather-ing and erosion.

The Texas High School Coastal Monitoring Program (THSCMP) , which is led by Tiffany Caudle , marked its 20th anniversary in 2017. The THSCMP is a research and out-reach project that engages students and teachers who live along the Gulf of Mexico in the study of their nat-ural environment. Students collect data in a real-world setting that are used by working scientists to address coastal issues. A total of 294 data- collection field trips have been com-pleted through this program to date.

In undergraduate outreach, stu-d e n t s f r o m S a n A n g e l o S t a te

University toured the Austin Core Repository and listened to presen-tations from Bureau research and support staff including Bill Ambrose, Tucker Hentz, Brent Elliott, Robert Baumgardner, Nathan Ivicic , and Linda Ruiz McCall. Texas Association of Community College geology professors learned how they might use Texas Through Time in courses they teach.

In community outreach, the Bureau hosted the Austin Regional Sierra Club for presentations about envi-ronmental research. Michael Young, Sue Hovorka , Bridget Scanlon , Brad Wolaver, Daniel Ortuño, and Linda Ruiz McCall each spoke, and the group also toured the Austin Core Repository with Nathan Ivicic and Brandon Williamson. Presentations were also given to the Austin Gem and Mineral Society and the 2017 Boy Scout STEMboree.

Educational Workshops and Training

Bureau associate director Michael Young shows core samples to members of the Austin Regional Sierra Club.

Children at the 2017 Boy Scout STEMboree examine and identify rocks and minerals.

Palacios High School advanced physics students collect beach-profile data from site MAT02 on Matagorda Peninsula.

Annual Report 2017 | 27

Bu r e a u p r o j e c t m a n a g e r J u l i  Hennings and information geolo-gist Linda Ruiz McCall presented

information on the Bureau’s new radio program EarthDate to K–12 educators at the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST) in Houston in November. Hosted by the Science Teachers Association of Texas, CAST draws over 5,500 science educators from across the state to provide profes-sional development and resources

to advance K–12 science education in Texas.

Research Scientist Associate Beverly DeJarnett of the Bureau and Jason Barrett of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDot) also distrib-uted hundreds of rock and mineral posters, rock kits, maps, and informa-tional brochures in the CAST Exhibit Hall. American Geosciences Institute Earth Science Week Toolkits, rock kits, and hundreds of page-sized maps were also donated to the Texas Earth Science Teachers Association for distribution to their members statewide.

For additional information about the K–12 educational and outreach re-sources offered by the Bureau, please contact McCall at linda.mcCall@ beg.utexas.edu.

Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching

Jason Barrett of TxDot and Beverly DeJarnett of the Bureau distribute maps, rock kits, and posters at the Bureau exhibit booth at CAST.

Juli Hennings Linda Ruiz McCall

Organizations Reached in 2017

K–16 EducatorsAldine ISD secondary science teachers

Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching

Groundwater to the Gulf Institute

NASA Center for Space Research Blue Dot teacher workshop

Texas Association of Community Colleges annual meeting

Texas Environmental Advisory Council annual meeting

Texas Mining and Reclamation Association Industrial Minerals workshop

K–16 StudentsAkins High School OnRamp Academy

Austin Earth Science Week Career Day

Austin Elementary School, Irving

Austin Families in Nature

Austin Geological Society Science Fair winners

Austin Youth Council Career Fair

GeoFORCE 12th-grade Summer Academy

San Angelo State undergraduate geology students

Schlumberger Externship program

Community OutreachAustin Gem and Mineral Society

Austin Regional Sierra Club

Boy Scout STEMboree

28 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Honors

Jay Raney received the Bureau’s Alumnus of the Year Award during the Jackson School of Geosciences Friends and Alumni Reception at the Geological Society of America annual meeting in Seatt le in October. Given annually since 2003, this award honors former Bureau employees for significant career accomplishments after leav-ing the Bureau. Raney began working at the Bureau in 1985 as a research

scientist. He served as associate di-rector of the Environmental Division from 1994 through 2004 and retired from the Bureau in 2006.

Raney received a handcrafted brass Brunton compass inspired by an an-tique pocket model, once common-ly used by geologists and engineers during the days when instruments of exploration were works of art as well as survival tools.

Alumnus of the Year Award: Jay Raney

Jay Raney (left) with Bureau director Scott W. Tinker.

UT Austin professor and Bureau senior research scientist Ellen M. Rathje is the 2018 recipient of the William B. Joyner Lecture Award, an-nounced in October

by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) and the Seismological Society of America (SSA) to honor outstanding earth science contributions.

Dr. Rathje is the Warren S. Bellows Centennial Professor in UT Austin’s

Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering. At the Bureau, she serves as co– principal invest igator for the Center for Integrated Seismicity Research and the TexNet Seismic Monitoring Program.

2018 William B. Joyner Lecture Award: Ellen Rathje

Ellen Rathje

Bureau of Economic Geology associate di-rector (Environmental Division) Michael  H. Young was honored by UT Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences (JSG) with the 2017

Joseph C. Walter Excellence Award in late December. The Walter Award— the highest honor that the JSG bestows on faculty members and research scientists each year—

recognizes demonstrated excellence in any or all areas of the school: re-search, teaching, service, professional activity, and administration.

JSG dean Sharon Mosher acknowl-edged Young’s contributions to the school. “Michael has advanced the Bureau’s environmental group to new heights and is recognized in-ternationally for his research in soil science,” she said. “His administra-tive and research work have tru-

ly enhanced the reputation of the Bureau and the Jackson School. His work ethic is inspiring. As associate director, he has helped lead large research programs, like the Texas Soil Observation Network; the use of airborne lidar for high-resolution terrestrial scanning and 3D geologic mapping programs; and the TexNet Seismic Monitoring Program….He deserves special recognition from the school for his successes in making geoscience serve humanity.”

2017 Joseph C. Walter Excellence Award: Michael H. Young

Michael Young

Annual Report 2017 | 29

Bureau research scientist Jacob  A. Covault received the 2017 James Lee Wilson Award in recognition of “Excellence in Sedimentary Geology by a Young Scientist” from the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) at their annual meeting in Houston in April. The award is pre-sented to young geoscientists “who have achieved a significant record of research accomplishments in sedimentary geology, including all aspects of modern and ancient sed-imentology, stratigraphy, and pale-ontology, fundamental and applied.”

Dr. Covault joined the Bureau in 2015; he is the principal investigator of the Quantitative Clastics  Laboratory

(QCL) , an industry re-s e a r c h c o l l a b o r a t i o n focused on the sedimen-tology and stratigraphy of clastic depositional sys-tems, with applications in reservoir modeling, uncer-tainty in subsurface strati-graphic correlation, and source-to-sink predictions for frontier exploration.

Established in 1996, the award was named in honor of James Lee Wilson, an internationally recognized expert on the geology of carbonate sedimentary rocks.

SEPM James Lee Wilson Award: Jake Covault

SEPM president (2016–17) Vitor Abreu (left) with Wilson Medal winner Covault.

In April, the Bureau held its annual First Author Publication Awards dinner to celebrate the peer-reviewed publishing achievements of its re-searchers in 2016. Bureau authors produced 150 publications in 2016 (up from around 140 the year before). Of these, 55 were written or co-written by 39 Bureau first authors; another 11 papers were written by graduate- student first authors directly super-vised by Bureau researchers.

Bridget Scanlon, Alex Sun, Farzam Javadpour , and Bob Loucks were the most prolific authors of peer- reviewed publications in 2016, with Scanlon publishing 13  first- or co- authored papers. Kitty Milliken , Esti Ukar , and postdoc Xinming Wu had the most first-authored papers, with 4 apiece. Sergey Fomel was co-author on 5 papers first- authored by his Ph.D. students.

The evening also fea-tured the presentation of the Tinker Family BEG Publication Award to Robert Baumgardner, Scott Hamlin, and Harry Rowe “in recognition of the publication’s scientif-ic and economic impact on our understanding of the Wolfcamp Formation and Leonardian succession in the Midland Basin” for their “Lithofacies of the Wolfcam p a nd Lowe r Leonard Intervals, Southern Midland Basin, Texas” (2016, Bureau Report of Investigations No. 281). Runners-up were Milliken and co-authors “in recognition of career contributions to sedimentary petrology in top- tier journals” for “Quartz types, au-thigenic and detrital, in the Upper Cretaceous Eagle Ford Formation,

South Texas” (2016, Sedimentary Geology, v. 339) and “Organic matter- hosted pore system, Marcellus Formation (Devonian), Pennsylvania” (2013, AAPG Bulletin, v. 97).

Said the dinner’s host, Director Scott W. Tinker, “We’ve come a long way in peer-reviewed publishing, in quantity, quality, and breadth.”

Bureau Publication Awards

Director Tinker (right) presents the Tinker Family BEG Publi-cation Award to Robert Baumgardner (left) and Scott Hamlin.

For information on SEPM awards: https://www.sepm.org/pages.aspx?pageid=74

30 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Ph.D. student M a tt R a m o s was t he f i rs t -p l a c e a w a r d winner of the 5th Ben Caudle Simple Energy Concepts Con-test sponsored

by UT Austin’s Department of Petroleum and Geosystems En-gineering (PGE). Matt’s winning topic was “Electrical resistivity vi-

sualization for identifying subsur-

face fluids.”

The contest, which honors former

PGE professor emeritus Ben Caudle,

seeks to develop ideas that convey

complex geologic flow-related topics

using simple concepts. Winners re-

ceive funding from the department to

construct a demonstration of the con-

cept and present it at various venues,

such as UT Austin’s “Introduce a Girl

to Engineering Day” and “Explore UT.”

R a m o s ’ P h . D . d i s s e r t a t i o n — supervised by Stephen E. Laubach, Bureau senior research scientist and Fracture Research and Application Consortium (FRAC) principle in- vestigator, and Nicholas Espinoza of the PGE—pertains to laboratory characterization of shale anisotro-py and natural fracturing through combined triaxial stress testing and ultrasonic wave propagation.

Student Spotlight

Matt Ramos

Caudle Simple Energy Concepts Prize: Matt Ramos

Warehouse Supervisor Nathan Ivicic was named the recipient of the 2016 Bureau of Economic Geology Staff Excellence Award for his remarkable performance overseeing the mainte-nance of the organization’s vast core and rock material archives at the Austin Core Research Center (CRC) and the Midland Core Research Center. Ivicic’s organizational ability,

can-do spirit, and service-first atti- tude were major factors in the un- animous decision by the Bureau’s leadership group to nominate him for the award.

Ivicic, who started working at the Bureau as a student, is now in his 15th year here.

2016 Staff Excellence Award: Nathan IvicicIvicic (right) accepts the Bureau’s 2016 Staff Excellence Award from Director Scott W. Tinker at the staff appreciation cookout in July.

In May, the Bureau recognized recipients of this year’s UT Austin

Staff Service Awards. Twenty-two Bureau staff members were acknowledged for their contributions, achievements, and length of service.

Notable among these were Senior Research Scientist Shirley Dutton, who this year completed 40 years of service at the Bureau, and Senior Research Scientist Jeffrey Paine , with 35 years of service. Recipients were previously recognized by UT at the President’s Staff Awards ceremony in April.

Dutton, Paine Top Bureau Staff Service Awards

UT Austin president Gregory L. Fenves presents Dutton with her Staff Service Award for 40 years of service. (Photo by Brian Birzer.)

Jeffrey Paine

Continued on page 31

Annual Report 2017 | 31

In April, Ph.D. student Chuck Abolt was awarded a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship for his work on arctic soils, “Feedbacks between topography and three- dimensional fluxes of heat, water, and carbon in ice wedge polygons.” Abolt is one of just 69 awardees chosen from 385 applicants in the Earth science field; his award was based on scientific merit, relevance to NASA’s objectives in Earth and space science, and academic excellence.

Working with Ph.D. advisor and Bureau associate director Michael Young as principal investigator, Abolt will explore two hypotheses regarding changing topography and the interrelationships between heat, water, and soil carbon levels of ice-wedge polygons to better understand

the geomorphology of the Alaskan tundra. The study will employ an advanced 3D computer model of thermal hydrology, with simulations calibrated against continu-ing subsurface temperature observations at six depths and resulting concepts to be extrapolated to a second site. The study also includes development of a software application to survey a study area of more than 480 sq km of tundra to es-timate rates of groundwater release at a landscape scale.

The 2-year study, which began in September 2017, will employ data from the Fourier Transform Spectrometer flown on NASA’s CARVE mission

and the OCO-2 satellite to deter-mine whether differences in carbon emissions from different ice-polygon types can be detected using airborne and spaceborne sensors.

Advisor Michael Young (left) and award winner Chuck Abolt on the tundra in Alaska.

NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship: Chuck Abolt

M a s te r ’s ca n d i d ate Ab d u l a z i z Almansour is the recipient of the 2017 Director’s Award from the Energy & Earth Resources (EER) Graduate Program in recognition of his in-sightful research and an outstand-ing presentation of his work at the Jackson School Master’s Saturday symposium held in April. The rec-ognition is accompanied by a cash prize, which Almansour shares with fellow EER student Ben  Griffiths. Almansour was also a finalist among Jackson School students for an award for the best-written abstract.

Almansour’s research,“VOI of frac-ture prediction methods,” applies

geologic, engineering, and econom-

ic analysis to evaluate the technical

effectiveness and economic value of a fracture-characterization method that uses limited subsurface informa-tion to diagnose the presence or ab-sence of open fractures. Software that Almansour developed as part of the study allows decision makers to calcu- late the value of information using play-specific geologic and cost para- meters to evaluate any type of tech-nology or test. One outcome of the research on the fracture-diagnostic method is a tangible demonstration of the high economic value of new, funda-mental insights into natural fracture processes developed in the Structural Diagenesis Initiative program.

Almansour’s research supervisors are the Bureau’s Stephen E. Laubach,

PI of the Fracture Research and Application Consortium, and Eric Bickle, professor of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering at UT Austin.

Director’s Award winner Abdulaziz Almansour.

Energy and Earth Resources Director’s Award: Abdulaziz Almansour

Student Spotlight, cont.

32 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Elsevier, the information analytics

company specializing in science and

health, announced that content from

the Bureau of Economic Geology is

now available in Geofacets, Elsevier’s

online database for research of sur-

face and subsurface geology. The

Bureau’s content in Geofacets will

help both conventional and uncon-

ventional oil and gas companies

discover economically viable hydro-

carbons in Texas, particularly in

the Permian and Gulf Coast Basins

and other tight oil and shale gas plays in the state.

T h e Bu r e au’s d a ta h a s b e e n enriched, enhanced, and digitized in Geofacets, making its maps, fig-ures, and table data easily accessible. More than 6,500 maps (4,000 geo- referenced), 1,700 figures, and 200 tables were added to Geofacets from Bureau content. The data—sourced from geological circulars, Reports of Investigations, and atlases of major oil and gas reservoirs—adds

to Geofacets’ comprehensive port-folio, which consists of more than 1.5 million maps, figures, and tables from nearly 100 publications. The ad-ditional content focuses on natural resource exploration, including bore-hole/core location, play (fairway), well location (oil/gas), structural ge-ology and tectonics, sedimentology, and stratigraphy data.

Visit: https://www.elsevier.com/ solutions/geofacets.

Bureau Data Now Available in Geofacets

Publications

Canyon Dam Spillway Gorge and Natural Bridge Caverns: Geologic Excursions in the Balcones Fault Zone, Central TexasWoodruff, C. M., Jr, Collins, E. W., Potter, E. C., and Loucks, R. G., 2017, The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Guidebook No. 29, 56 p., 29 figs., 1 appendix, 2 appendix figures, 1 color plate.

The latest Bureau guidebook—by Chock Woodruff , Eddie Collins , Eric Potter , and Robert Loucks—focuses on two spectacular geologic sites, Canyon Dam Spillway Gorge and Natural Bridge Caverns, which both occupy the Balcones Fault Zone in Comal County between Austin and San Antonio. These sites provide contrasting views of the limestone terrains west of the Balcones Escarpment, which cuts through Central Texas and marks the eastern edge of the Hill Country. The sites occupy roughly the same sequences of Cretaceous bedrock strata, but the different hydrologic processes that acted on

the strata produced dramatically different landforms over dispa-rate intervals of time, imparting important geologic lessons about how landscapes evolve.

This guidebook begins with a road log for the entire excursion that starts and ends in Austin. Specific locations along the route are keyed to mileages presented in the road log to aid navigation and provide on-ground reference points for run-ning commentaries about points of geologic, geographic, cultural, or historical interest. Separate articles present guided tours for each of the two stops. An appendix summarizes

geochemical processes of water on limestone terrains.

GB0029 can be purchased online at The Bureau Store or in the Publication Sales bookstore at the Bureau.

Guidebook

Annual Report 2017 | 33

Upper Pennsylvanian and Lower Permian Shelf-to-Basin Facies Architecture and Trends, Eastern Shelf of the Southern Midland Basin, West Texas Hentz, T. F., Ambrose, W. A., and Hamlin, H. S., 2017, The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations No. 282, 68 p., 40 figs., 2 tables, 2 appendices, 1 plate, and 1 CD in back pocket.

RI0282 by Tucker Hentz, William A m b r o s e , a n d S c o tt H a m l i n will be of special interest to those seeking detailed knowledge of the eastern Permian Basin. This study is the first comprehensive exami- nation of the depositional framework of the entire southern portion of the Eastern Shelf of the Midland Basin, an area comprising approximately 15,500 sq mi in this major West Texas petroleum province.

The report provides detailed de-scriptions and interpretations of

whole cores representing key dep-ositional intervals; seven regional, shelf-to-basin, fold-out transects of all formation tops within the study area; and a downloadable spread-sheet of the more than 25 Canyon– Cisco formation tops of the 266 tran-sect wells and 2,247 total study wells. This study provides a starting point for those interested either in the de-tailed stratigraphic context of local oil or gas fields or the facies framework for more regional study.

Reports of Investigations

Geological CO2 Sequestration Atlas of Miocene Strata, Offshore Texas State WatersTreviño, R. H., and Meckel, T. A., eds., 2017, The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations No. 283, 74 p., 7 chapters, 1 appendix.

RI0283 , edited by Ramon Treviño and Tip Meckel, summarizes research un-dertaken as part of a multiyear study (2009–2014) of Texas State Waters and the adjacent Federal Offshore Continental Shelf. The goal of the study was to assess and analyze ex-isting data from historical hydrocar-bon-industry activities in a regional transect of the Texas coast in order to verify the ability of Miocene-age rocks of the region to safely and permanently store large amounts of anthropogenic (industrial) CO2.

Prior hydrocarbon exploration his-tory has set the stage for success-ful and low-risk carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment at offshore locations in general, and the near- offshore waters of Texas in partic-ular, for reasons including suitable

geology, abun-dant and high- quality geologic data sets, proxim-ity to CO2 sources, and reduced risk to shallow sourc-e s o f d r i n k i n g water.

T h e at l a s p r o -vides a resource for exploring the geological CO 2 sequestration potential of the near- offshore waters of Texas via large-scale regional and qualitative, as well as detailed quantitative, information that can help operators quickly as-sess CO2 sequestration potential at specific sites. This is the first com- prehensive attempt to accomplish

this goal in the near offshore Gulf Coast and United States.

RI0282 and RI0283 , now available in both softcover and downloadable dig-ital versions, can be purchased online at The Bureau Store or in the Publica-tion Sales bookstore at the Bureau.

34 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Maps

Geologic Map of the Pontotoc Quadrangle, Texas Elliott, B. A., 2017, The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Open-File Map, OFM0230, scale 1:24,000.

This map, one of several 1 :24 ,000-scale maps of the region north of the Llano Uplift, focuses on sand resources in the Cambrian and Ordovician stratigraphy of Central Texas. Maps for this region provide a basic geologic framework to aid in managing water and earth resources; planning land use; identifying aquifer recharge areas; and identifying earth resources such as dimension stone, aggregate, con-struction sand and specialty sand, and gravel. This study area lies north of Llano Uplift Precambrian Valley Spring gneiss, within the Cambrian-age Hickory Formation eolian to near-shore setting; is tran-sitional to marine transgressional through the Wilberns and Tanyard Formations; and is overlain by Cretaceous limestone and sandstone. The Hickory Formation is an important sand resource in Central Texas, and the Hickory aquifer recharge zone is important for water resource management in the region.

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UNIVERSAL TRANSVERSE MERCATOR PROJECTION, ZONE 14N, NAD 83CONTOUR INTERVAL 20 FTDATUM IS MEAN SEA LEVEL

KILOMETER1 0 1.5MILE1 0 1½

GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE PONTOTOC QUADRANGLE, TEXASBrent A. Elliott

2017

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GEOLOGIC MAP OF THEPONTOTOC QUADRANGLE, TEXAS

OPEN-FILE MAP NO 230

BUREAU OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGYSCOTT. W TINKER, DIRECTOR

JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCESTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTINIn cooperation with the State of Texas Advanced Resource RecoveryProgram and the U.S. Geological Survey National Cooperative GeologicMapping Program under STATEMAP award number G16AC00194, 2016

DESCRIPTION OF GEOLOGIC MAP UNITS

This map is constructed for the study of sand resources in the region. The map shows the distribution of geologic unitssoutheast of the town of Brady, in the Central Texas sand district east of the town of Voca, in the Pontotoc quadrangle.Geologic Units were mapped and structural measurements were taken in the field; where bedrock units are covered bysurficial units and vegetation, or access is limited, units were interpreted using aerial imagery, soil data, well-drillingrecords, and previous mapping

BEDROCK UNITS

Qal—Alluvium: River and stream floodplain deposits, silty sand, mud, channel gravel,rounded pebbles, and cobbles.

Qt—Fluviatile terrace deposits: Gravel, silt, sand, and clay; increasing amounts of graniticgrus and sand around the Valley Spring Gneiss and Hickory Sandstone formations.These deposits are mostly flood level along entrenched streams and accumulations ofgranitic grus in low-lying drainage areas.

Ked—Edwards Limestone: Fine-grained, argillaceous, locally siliceous, thin-bedded tonodular and massive, light-gray to light-brown limestone with marine miliolid, gastropod,and rustid, fossils. Some dolomite and chert nodules are present, with a total unit thick-ness between 10 and 40 m.

Kh—Hensell Sand: Fine- to very fine-grained, tan-yellow, orange and red, locally coarse-grained, argillaceous, massive, locally cross-bedded and ripple-marked sandstone. Sand-stone contains interbeds of sandy, silty, calcareous claystone and sandy, caliche-cemented conglomerate with pebbles of chert and quartz, and basal granite grus gravel.

Ottm—Staendebach Member Limestone: Fine- to medium-grained, light-gray to brown-gray, thick- to thin-bedded limestone (Ottc) and dolomitic limestone (Ottm). Locally chertyand grading westward into predominantly limestone, with gastropod, cephalopod, andtrilobite fossils preserved in cherty areas. Thickness is about 200 m, thinning westward.

Ows—San Saba Member (undivided): Thick- to thin-bedded, occasionally cherty or glau-conitic, fine- to very fine-grained, gray to dark-gray limestone and dolomite. Thickness isabout 100 m, becoming more granular and limestone-dominant westward.

Owp—Point Peak Member (undivided): Thinly bedded, gray to brown-gray siltstone con-taining abundant authigenic feldspar interbeds of fine-grained stromatolitic limestone; intra-formational conglomerate; and thin, silty, gray-green shale beds. Thickness is about 40 m,thinning westward.

Owm—Morgan Creek Limestone Member: Granular, glauconitic, thick- to thin-bedded,brown to gray-brown limestone with thin interbeds of siltstone. Fossils include trilobites,calcareous brachiopods, and aphanitic stromatolite in upper sections.

Oww—Welge Sandstone Member: Coarse- to medium-grained, pale to dark yellow-brown, typically glauconitic, occasionally fossiliferous, well-sorted, quartz sandstone.Thickness is variable, 3–10 m, with lower disconformity contact and gradational uppercontact into Morgan Creek Limestone Member.

Orl—Lion Mountain Sandstone Member: Coarse- to fine-grained glauconitic quartz sand-stone, with lenses of sandy limestone, trilobite coquina, limestone containing phosphaticbrachiopods, and occasionally siltstone and shale. Thickness ranges between 10 and 25 m.

Orc—Cap Mountain Limestone Member: Granular, thick-bedded, occasionally glauconiticor oolitic, green-gray to yellow-brown limestone grading into calcareous sandstone and silt-stone at the base. Limestone is about 50 to 75 m thick and thins northward.

Orh—Hickory Sandstone Member—Upper: medium- to coarse-grained, exceptionally well-rounded, hematite-cemented, orange and red to red-brown, <10-m-thick sandstone; Middle:fine-to medium-grained argillaceous, silty, thin-bedded, orange to red, crossbedded,<30-m-thick sandstone; Lower: forming most if the Hickory Sandstone in the map area, fine-to coarse-grained, poorly sorted, yellow-gray to yellow, cross-bedded, 30 to 80-m-thick sand-stone with coarse sand and gravel base in contact with nonconformable Precambrian rocks.

Ovs—Valley Spring Gneiss: Fine- to medium-grained, well-foliated, heterogenous, pink togray, alkali-feldspar augen gneiss, occasionally containing coarse microcline feldspar peg-matitic lenses and local biotite and/or amphibole schist fragments.

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GEOCHEMICAL SAMPLE LOCALITY—Locationof sample taken for analytical work.

BEDDING—Sedimentary bedding plane showingstrike and dip.

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NORMAL FAULT—Fault plane orientation showingstrike and dip

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REFERENCES

Barnes, V. E., 1981, Geologic Atlas of Texas, Llano sheet: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of EconomicGeology, scale 1:250,000.

Barnes, V. E. and Bell, W. C., 1977, The Moore Hollow Group of Central Texas: The University of Texas at Austin,Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations No. 88, 169 p. Barnes, V. E. and Schofield, D. A., 1964, Potential low-grade iron ore and hydraulic fracturing sand in Cambriansandstones, Northwestern Llano Region, Texas: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations No. 53,58 p.

Krause, S. J., 1996, Stratigraphic framework, facies analysis, and depositional history of the Middle to LateCambrian Riley Formation, Central Texas: Master’s thesis: The University of Texas at Austin, 172 p.

Kyle, J. R. and McBride, E. F., 2012, Geology of the Voca Frac Sand District, western Llano Uplift, Texas, Pro-ceedings from the 48th Annual Forum on the geology of Industrial Minerals: Arizona Geological Survey, SpecialPaper 9, 13 p.

Mapping and related activities were supported in part by the U.S. Geological Survey, National Cooperative Geologic MappingProgram, under StateMap award No. G16AC00194, 2016. GIS layers and digital cartography by Brent A. Elliott. This work benefitedfrom studies supported by the State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery (STARR) initiative. Digital layers for transportation,hydrology, imagery, and contours were provided by Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT), Texas Water Development Board(TWDB), and Texas Nautural Resource Information Systems (TNRIS). The views and conclusions contained in this document are thoseof the author and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S.Government. The Bureau of Economic Geology makes no express or implied warranties (including warranties for merchantability andfitness) with respect to the character, functions, or capabilities of the electronic data or products or their appropriateness for any user’spurposes. In no event will the Bureau of Economic Geology be liable for any incidental, indirect, special, consequential, or other damagessuffered by the user or any other person or entity whether from the use of the electronic services or products, or any failure thereof orotherwise. In no event will the State of Texas’ liability to the Requestor or anyone else exceed the fee paid for the electronic service orproduct. This map and explanatory information is submitted for publication with the understanding that the United States Government isauthorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for government use.

Publications produced by the Bureau of Economic Geology are available for purchase from the BEG website (www.beg.utexas.edu).

Topographic base map from:

U. S. Geological Survey 2016; Imagery; 2014

Projection:

Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 14N

Datum:

Barnes, V. E., 1981 Barnes, V. E. and Bell, W. C., 1977 Barnes, V. E. and Schofield, D. A., 1964 Krause, S. J., 1996 Kyle, J. R. and McBride, E. F., 2012

Previous faults mapped by:

Barnes, V. E., 1981 Barnes, V. E. and Schofield, D. A., 1964

BUREAU OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

Jackson School of GeosciencesThe University of Texas at Austin

10100 Burnet Road, Bldg. 130 • Austin, Texas 78758Phone 512-471-7144 • Fax 512-471-0140

email: pubsales@beg.utexas.eduwebsite: www.beg.utexas.edu

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Copyright © Bureau of Economic Geology

QAe5595

Geologic Map of the Mansfield Dam Quadrangle, TexasWoodruff, C. M., Jr., 2017, The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Open-File Map, OFM0229, scale 1:24,000.

The dominant surface features on this map include impounded mean-ders of the Colorado River and its tributaries that compose the lower reaches of Lake Travis. The river has cut into Lower Cretaceous strata that dip gently to the southeast and include localized exposures of Cow Creek Limestone and Hensel Sand along lakeshore at the map’s western edge. The highest elevations on the map have formed on the Edwards Limestone that composes outliers of the once-continuous Edwards Plateau. The most areally extensive geologic formation across this area is the Glen Rose Limestone, consisting of upper and lower members as well as an informal map unit at the formation’s top that is composed chiefly of weathered silty dolomitic strata. This map in-cludes classic landscapes of the Central Texas Hill Country, with mul-tiple high-gradient ephemeral water courses draining disjunct plateau

uplands and sculpting stepped terrain from diverse underlying strata. Relief of more than 460 ft occurs above lake level along the abrupt meander bed east of Mansfield Dam; the lake depth in this area adds another 200-plus ft to the pre-impoundment topographic relief. Local Quaternary alluvial deposits occur downstream from the dam, but elsewhere most of these deposits lie inundated beneath the lake.

Copyright © Bureau of Economic Geology QAe5549

0 .5 21 3 MILES

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UNIVERSAL TRANSVERSE MERCATOR PROJECTION, ZONE 14N, NAD 83

GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE MANSFIELD DAM QUADRANGLE, TEXASC. M. Woodruff, Jr.

2017

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Qat—Alluvial terrace deposits: occurs along local margins of Lake Travis and along Lake Austin immediately below Mansfield Dam; areas characterized by thick soils and underlying substrate consisting of unconsolidated to weakly cemented sand, gravel, silt, and clay; thicknesses up to 20 ft.

Ked—Edwards Limestone: resistant, massive carbonate strata at base of unit holding up edge of Post Oak Ridge, Jollyville Plateau, and correlative outliers of once more-extensive Edwards Plateau; variable thicknesses of diverse carbonate rocks, including well-indurated limestone, vuggy burrowed rock, rudist boundstones, friable dolomitic beds, and local pulverulite (probably originating as dolomitic limestone leached by percolating groundwater); maximum thickness about 100 ft; minimum thickness of erosional outliers roughly 10 ft. Strata appear to be flat-lying in outcrop, but regional dip is inclined to the southeast at approximately 17 ft per mile. Edwards Limestone has local karst features, and on upland surface may recharge seasonal perched aquifer; many headwater reaches of drainage courses are fed by intermittent spring discharge from Edwards Limestone.

Kcp/Kwa—Comanche Peak Formation, Walnut Formation, undivided: composite unit, occupying steep slopes commonly covered by soil and/or colluvium is approximately 80 ft thick, consisting of nodular, burrowed, locally vuggy, limestone strata with highly weathered interbeds (so-called “marly” intervals) containing abundant oysters and other fossils. Lower intervals consist mainly of Bee Cave Member of the Walnut Formation, although Bull Creek Limestone Member may also be present; Cedar Park Limestone Member also may occur as resistant limestone intervals near contact between Walnut and Comanche Peak (Moore, 1961). This map unit forms low-permeability zone, thus creating an aquitard beneath perched water table.

Kgru—Glen Rose Limestone (upper member): most areally extensive geologic unit on Mansfield Dam Quadrangle is approximately 300 ft thick and forms dissected stepped terrain beneath recessive units that underlie the high-standing, resistant Edwards Limestone. Glen Rose stair steps formed on interbedded carbonate rocks, with resistant limestone or silty dolomite beds forming caps of “risers” and floors of overlying “treads.” In contrast, so-called “marly” intervals form recessive slopes (risers) beneath resistant ledges; most recessive strata not underlain by marl bedrock, but are weathered limestone interbeds having heterogeneous fabric with multiple irregular clay partings (Woodruff and Wilding, 2008); these recessive intervals may contain abundant fossils, including casts of bivalves, gastropods, and echinoids. The upper 80 to 100 ft of Upper Member of Glen Rose Limestone contain a significant number of dolomitic limestone and dolomite beds that are included in an informal map unit called upper dolomite interval (Kgrud). Inclusion of this informal unit follows conventions of Rodda and others (1970) and Stricklin and others (1971). Many of these dolomite beds are highly weathered, and the dolomite intervals appear as buff-colored, highly porous, friable material; interval commonly expressed on aerial photos as having relatively sparse vegetative cover.

Basal part of Glen Rose (Upper Member) contains leached evaporitic horizons, containing vuggy limestone, boxwork fabric, and poorly formed geodes. Upper Member of Glen Rose Limestone comprises Upper Trinity aquifer (Brune and Duffin, 1983), although viability of this stratigraphic interval as water-bearing unit is highly limited, owing to lack of continuous sequences of strata with porosity and permeability sufficient to allow hydrologic communication. Also, because of local occurrence of leached evaporate minerals, water quality is commonly inferior.

Kgrl—Glen Rose Limestone (lower member): the lithostratigraphic contact between lower and upper Glen Rose is mapped at the top of a prominent stratigraphic interval comprising one or more thin-bedded (commonly iron-stained) and well-indurated limestone horizons, known as the “Corbula bed.” This contact is consistent with interpretations by Stricklin and others (1971). The Corbula bed consists of myriad fossils of tiny (sunflower kernel-sized) clams formerly classified as Corbula harveyi (Hill), but current taxonomic name is Carycorbula martinae (Ann Molineux, personal communication, 2017). The Corbula interval forms locally prominent bench above recessive, weathered interval containing diverse fossil casts of clams, gastropods, and echinoids (Salenia texana interval). Thin, ledge-forming limestone over light-colored “marly” sequence forms couplet that is widely recognized on aerial photographs and in field; interval mapped across hundreds of square miles of Glen Rose Limestone outcrop, although it is obscured in many places because of cover by surficial material, or because the Corbula fossils are locally absent. Contact interval marks top of 65- to 110-ft thick sequence of stepped strata, largely dolomitic and containing horizons of silty dolomite and dolomitic limestone with vuggy porosity; also local rudist patch reefs. Lower Glen Rose Member composes upper part of middle Trinity aquifer, which includes Hensel Sand and Cow Creek Limestone (Brune and Duffin, 1983). At base, lower member of Glen Rose interfingers with underlying Hensel Sand; with gradational contacts between intervals of silty (locally sandy) dolomite strata.

Khe—Hensel Sand: at gradational contact with Glen Rose Limestone, silty dolomite strata are interbedded with fine-grained dolomitic sands. Lower in section, clastic fraction becomes more coarse-grained and more diverse—from quartz arenite, to subarkose, to granule, pebble, and cobble conglomerate; cementation predominantly calcite, from weak to moderately strong; festoon crossbedding locally, especially near base of formation. Hensel Sand is exposed along lakeshore in northwestern part of quadrangle; approximately 50 ft thick; unit forms sandy clay soils that support mesquite and post oak; uniform porosity and permeability allow infiltration into middle Trinity aquifer; contact with underlying Cow Creek Limestone is unconformable.

Kcc—Cow Creek Limestone: only the uppermost part of unit exposed at or below normal-pool lake level in northwestern part of quadrangle; includes oyster-reef deposits, shell coquinas, and cross-bedded shell-fragment beach rock, which includes local karst features, such as where joints are enlarged by dissolution; is the bottommost formation composing middle Trinity aquifer; entire unit is 40 to 65 ft thick, but only the uppermost few ft exposed in map area, although more extensive intervals are visible as lake level declines during dry periods.

Kha—Hammett Shale: occurs entirely within the subsurface of Mansfield Dam Quadrangle. Nearby exposures on the Pace Bend Quadrangle show Hammett Shale to be a diverse unit consisting of calcareous claystone and siltstone admixed with local lenses of sand and conglomerate; thickness ranges from 20 to 30 ft thick; contact with underlying Sycamore/Hosston Sand unconformable; Hammett Shale forms aquitard between middle and lower Trinity aquifers.

Ks/Kho—Sycamore/Hosston Sand: occurs entirely within the subsurface of Mansfield Dam Quadrangle; Sycamore is the unit name where exposed at the surface; Hosston Sand refers to subsurface extent of the same unit. Lakeshore exposures of Sycamore Sand within the northwest quadrant of the Pace Bend Quadrangle (Woodruff and Collins, 2015) show it to consist mostly of conglomerate (moderately well cemented) with local sand lenses and outcrops ranging from 30 to 75 ft thick, thickening eastward to approximately 100 ft. Component sediments range from silt–clay to cobble–boulder sizes; clasts typically well rounded, consisting mainly of assorted durable Paleozoic and Precambrian rocks of Llano Uplift. The Sycamore/Hosston Sand makes up the lower Trinity aquifer, which is an important groundwater source for the Central Texas Hill Country (Brune and Duffin, 1983). Also, it is the basal Cretaceous rock unit in Central Texas, and it overlies a complex assemblage of weakly metamorphic rocks of Upper Paleozoic age that make up part of the Ouachita System (Flawn and others, 1961).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The mapping of this quadrangle is based on analyses of aerial photographs and extensive fieldwork. The topographic base was created from digital files of the Texas Natural Resources Information Services (TNRIS) for the U.S. Geological Survey, Mansfield Dam, Texas, 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle map. Digital files of roads, county boundaries, drainage, and lake shores were also obtained from TNRIS. Part of the map is derived (and locally modified) from Woodruff (1973). Regional mapping by Barnes (1974) provided locally helpful stratigraphic information, and the extensive work by Moore (1959, 1961, 1964) provided helpful insights pertaining to the Walnut and Comanche Peak Formations. This map presents lithostratigraphic units. However, different workers have interpreted the presence of sequence stratigraphic boundaries. For example, Mancini and Scott (2006) place a sequence boundary at the base of the Corbula bed, whereas work by Kerans and Loucks (2002), Ward and Ward (2007), and Ward (2008) interpreted a regional sequence boundary well below the base of the Corbula bed. Additional field work was done for the Bureau of Economic Geology under the aegis of the EDMAP program of the U.S. Geological Survey by Jasmine Langston and Keri Vinas; this work resulted in a draft geologic map in 2010. Special appreciation is extended to Edward W. Collins for ongoing consultation and for many worthwhile discussions. I also acknowledge field visits to this map area with Patrick L. Abbott, and the late Keith Young and G. Lyman Dawe. Discussions with these men provided key insights during initial graduate research on the Glen Rose Limestone and other Cretaceous units in this area.

Work for this map was funded in part by the U.S. Geological Survey National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program under STATEMAP award number G16AC00194, 2016, and by the Bureau of Economic Geology STARR program. The study also benefited from work in nearby areas funded in part by the U.S. Geological Survey National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program under STATEMAP award number G15AC00250. Editing was done by Stephanie D. Jones. Computer graphics work done to construct the map was by Francine Mastrangelo. Views and conclusions contained in this map should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. government. The author disclaims any responsibility or liability for interpretations from this map.

QUATERNARY

Barnes, V. E., 1974, Austin sheet: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology Geologic Atlas of Texas, scale 1:250,000.

Brune, G., and Duffin, G., 1983, Occurrence, availability, and quality of ground water in Travis County, Texas: Texas Department of Water Resources Report 276, 219 p.

Flawn, P.T., Goldstein, A., Jr., King, P.B., and Weaver, C. E., 1961, The Ouachita System: The University of Texas Publication No. 6120, 401 p.

Kerans, C., and Loucks, R. G., 2002, Stratigraphic setting and controls on occurrence of high-energy carbonate beach deposits: Lower Cretaceous of the Gulf of Mexico: GCAGS Transactions, v. 52, p. 517-526.

Langston, J., and Vinas, K., 2010, Geology of Mansfield Dam Quadrangle, TX: The University of Texas at Austin, in cooperation with the EDMAP component of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, administrated by the U.S. Geologi-cal Survey, draft work map, scale 1:24,000.

Mancini, E. A., and Scott, R. W., 2006, Sequence stratigraphy of Comanchean Cretaceous outcrop strata of northeast and south-central Texas: Implications for enhanced petroleum exploration: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 56, p. 539-550.

Moore, C. H., Jr., 1959, Stratigraphy of the Walnut Formation south-central Texas: University of Texas, Austin, Master’s thesis, 110 p.

____________ 1961, Stratigraphy of the Fredericksburg Division south-central Texas: University of Texas, Austin, Ph.D. disser-tation, 91 p.

____________ 1964, Stratigraphy of the Fredericksburg Division, south-central Texas: University of Texas, Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology Report of Investigations No. 52, 48 p.

____________ 1996, Anatomy of a sequence boundary—Lower Cretaceous Glen Rose/Fredericksburg, Central Texas Platform: GCAGS Transactions, v. 46, p. 313-320.

Rodda, P. U., Garner, L. E., and Dawe, G. L., 1970, Austin West, Travis County, Texas: The University of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geology, Geologic Quadrangle Map 38, scale 1:24,000.

Salvador, A., and Quezada Muñeton, J. M., 1989, Stratigraphic correlation chart, the Gulf of Mexico Basin: Geological Society of America, v. J, The Geology of North America (GNA-J), Plate 5.

Stricklin, F. L., Jr., Smith, C. I., and Lozo, F. E., 1971, Stratigraphy of Lower Cretaceous Trinity deposits of Central Texas: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology Report of Investigations No. 71, 63 p.

Ward, W. C., 2008, Stratigraphy of the Canyon Lake Gorge, in Ward, W. C., Molineux, A., Valentine, S., and Woodruff, C. M., Jr., Canyon Dam Spillway Gorge, Comal County, Texas—geologic and hydrologic issues: Austin Geological Society Field Trip Guidebook 30, p. 13-28.

Ward, W. C., and Ward, W. B., 2007, Stratigraphy of the middle part of Glen Rose Formation (Lower Albanian), Canyon Lake Gorge, Central Texas, in Scott, R. W., ed., Cretaceous rudists and carbonate platforms: environmental feedback: SEPM Special Publication 87, p. 193-210.

Woodruff, C. M., Jr., 1973, Land-use limitations related to geology in the Lake Travis vicinity, Travis and Burnet Counties, Texas: The University of Texas at Austin, Ph.D. dissertation, 161 p.

Woodruff, C. M., Jr., and Wilding, L. P., 2008, Bedrock, soils, and hillslope hydrology in the Central Texas Hill Country, USA: implications on environmental management in a carbonate-rock terrain: Environmental Geology, v. 55, p. 605–618.

Woodruff, C. M., Jr., and Collins, E. W., 2015, Geologic map of the Pace Bend Quadrangle, Texas: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology Open-File Map 0221, scale = 1:24,000.

CRETACEOUS

REFERENCES

Contact: Dashed where approximate; dotted where covered; ? indicated approximate contact queried

Normal Fault: U, upthrown block, D, downthrown block; dashed where approximate

Selected stations

Contour line. Contour interval 20 ft

Intermittent stream

Normal pool elevation of Lake Travis (681 ft)

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BUREAU OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGYSCOTT W. TINKER, DIRECTOR

JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCESTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

In cooperation with the State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery Program and the U.S. Geological Survey National Cooperative Geological Mapping Program

under STATEMAP award number G16AC00194, 2016GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE MANSFIELD DAM QUADRANGLE, TEXAS

OPEN-FILE MAP NO 229

97°52'30"30°30'

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Annual Report 2017 | 35

Geologic Map of the Shingle Hills–Dripping Springs– Driftwood–Rough Hollow–Henly–Hammetts Crossing Area, Central TexasCollins, E. W., 2017, The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Open-File Map, OFM0231, scale 1:50,000.

This map area lies mostly within the dissected eastern margin of the Edwards Plateau west of Austin, which is experiencing relatively rapid suburban and local urban development. Geology of the map area con-sists of as much as 900 ft of Lower Cretaceous shelf- and shore-zone deposits. Map units include Sycamore Sand, Hammett Shale, Cow Creek Limestone, Hensel Sand, upper and lower Glen Rose Limestone, Walnut Formation, and Edwards Limestone.

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QAe5353

Copyright © Bureau of Economic Geology

GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE SHINGLE HILLS–DRIPPING SPRINGS–DRIFTWOOD–ROUGH HOLLOW–HENLY–HAMMETTS CROSSING AREA, CENTRAL TEXAS

Open-File Map No 231

BUREAU OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGYSCOTT W. TINKER, DIRECTOR

JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCESTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

In cooperation with the State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery Programand the U.S. Geological Survey National Cooperative Geological Mapping Program

under STATEMAP award numbers G16AC00194, 2016 and 01HQAG0039, 2001

Quaternary Qal�Alluvium. Gravel, sand, silt, and mud. Mostly modern drainageway deposits. Includes some undivided local terrace deposits and bedrock.

Qt�Terrace deposits. Gravel, sand, silt, and mud.

Qht�Older terrace deposits and remnant residual gravel. Mostly gravel and sand. Gravel composed of chert, limestone, metamorphic rock, quartz, and sandstone.

Lower CretaceousKed�Edwards Limestone. Limestone, dolomitic limestone, lesser argillaceous limestone, and some chert. Resistant strata (<40 ft thick) capping several hills. Approximately equivalent to part of Fort Terrett Formation of the eastern Edwards Plateau and Kainer Formation of Balcones Fault Zone (Rose, 1972).

Kedk�Edwards Limestone/Kainer Formation. Limestone, dolomitic limestone, dolomite, lesser argillaceous limestone, and some chert. Includes some collapse breccia. Approximately equivalent to part of the Fort Terrett Formation of the eastern Edwards Plateau (Rose, 1972). Common fossils include rudistids, oysters, gastropods, and miliolids (Rose, 1972; Abbott, 1973).Overlying limestone, dolomitic limestone, and dolomite beds indicate cyclic subtidal to tidal-flat deposition. Grainstones and packstones are common in the upper part of the unit. About 250 ft thick in outcrop belt.

Kw�Walnut Formation. Limestone, argillaceous limestone, marl, and lesser dolomitic limestone. Fossils are common and include oyster Exogyra texana. Walnut Formation within map area includes three undivided members—Bull Creek, Bee Cave, and Cedar Park—that thin westward and southward (Moore, 1959; 1964; 1996; Grimshaw, 1970). Some researchers include Walnut strata with lower parts of the Fort Terrett Formation of the Edwards Plateau and Kainer Formation of the Balcones Fault Zone (Rose, 1972).Thickness between 30 and 75 ft.

Kgru�Glen Rose Limestone (upper member). Limestone, dolomitic limestone, dolomite, and argillaceous limestone. Alternating resistant and recessive beds form stair-step topography. Abundant fossils include bivalves, rudistids, oysters, echinoids, and Foraminifera (Stricklin and others, 1971). Thickness is as much as 400 ft. Upper 80 to 100 ft contain a significant number of dolomitic limestone and dolomite beds and are mapped as an informal unit. Kgrud�upper dolomite interval of Glen Rose Limestone (upper member). This study follows Rodda and others (1970) and Stricklin and others (1971) lithostratigraphic placement for the base of the lower Glen Rose to be at the top of a prominent marker horizon, the Corbula bed. During their sequence-stratigraphic study of Central Texas, Mancini and Scott (2006) interpreted a sequence boundary at the base of the Corbula interval and designated this horizon as the base of the upper Glen Rose. Previous studies by Kerans and Loucks (2002), Ward and Ward (2007), and Ward (2008) interpreted a regional sequence boundary well below the Corbula bed but not at the base of the bed.

Kgrl�Glen Rose Limestone (lower member). Limestone, dolomitic limestone, dolomite, and argillaceous limestone. Massive and thick beds are common. Abundant fossils include bivalves, rudistids, oysters, echinoids, and Foraminifera (Stricklin and others, 1971).Regionally, the top of the unit is marked by an interval with one to three thin, resistant, 1- to 3-ft-thick beds containing Corbula. The Corbula interval, which includes the corbulid Eoursivivas harveyi (Hill), is above a fossiliferous unit that often includes echinoid Leptosalenia texana (Salina texana). The interval is below a leached evap-oritic interval within the upper Glen Rose Limestone. The unit thickness is between 200 and 270 ft.

Khe�Hensel Sand. Sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, conglomerate, lesser sandy to silty limestone, dolomitic limestone and dolomitic siltstone. Contains paleosols (Hopkins, 2007). Forms shoreward facies of lower part of Glen Rose Lime-stone. Upper contact with Glen Rose Limestone is gradational. As thick as 80 ft at the northwest part of the study area (Barnes, 1981) and thins toward the east and southeast to about 20 ft (Barnes, 1981; Wierman and others, 2010).

Kcc�Cow Creek. Limestone and sandy limestone that exhibits grainstone fabric, abundant fossil fragments, some siliciclastic grains, moldic porosity, and crossbeds. Barnes (1981) described unit as coquinite in which many of the fossils are dissolved.Kerans and others (2014) reported that Cow Creek strata interfinger with underlying Hammett Shale depos-its and that they include oyster reef deposits, shell coquinas, and crossbedded shell-fragment beach rock. Thickness generally between 40 and 75 ft. Map scale prevents illustrating local Kcc along Blanco River that was described by Strick-lin and others (1971).

Kha�Hammett Shale. Calcareous claystone and siltstone, minor sand, some conglomerate at base. Oyster beds at the top of the unit and transition zone into Cow Creek Limestone (Barnes, 1981; 1982a). Commonly as thick as 60 ft. Less than 20 ft thick in some areas at the northwest part of the study area.

Ks�Sycamore Sand. Conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone. Upper surface of Sycamore conglomerate has been bored by clams (Stricklin and others, 1971; Barnes, 1982a). Contains caliche paleosols. Thickness is variable because of deposition on irregular paleotopography.Between 50 and 100 ft thick at the northwest part of the study area. Locally absent west of Pedernales Falls (Barnes, 1982b).

Pennsylvanian IPmf�Marble Falls Limestone. Limestone, some chert layers. Minor outcrop at northeast part of studyarea along Pedernales River.

Contact. Dashed where approximate; dotted where covered; ? indicates approximate contact queried

Normal fault. U, upthrown block; D, downthrown block; dashed where approximate; dotted wherecovered; ? indicates approximate fault queried

Monocline, approximate. Small faults and joints may occur along monocline hinge.

Springs

Selected published measured sections. 1-Cuyler (1939), 2-Stricklin and Smith (1956), 3-Moore (1959),4-Moore (1964), 5-Grimshaw (1970), 6-Amsbury (1974), 7-Stricklin and others (1971), 8-Collins (2007),9-Hunt and Smith (2011), 10-Hunt and others (2011).

Selected stations

Contour line. Contour interval 100 ft

Stream

Intermittent stream

Normal pool elevation of Lake Travis (681 ft)

Pond or tank

Road

Pipeline

AbstractThe Geologic Map of the Shingle Hills�Dripping Springs�Driftwood�Rough Hollow�Henly�Hammetts Crossing Area, Central Texas, scale 1:50,000, has been constructed through mapping and digital compilation of six 1:24,000-scale quadrangle maps. The map area is west of Austin, the fourth-largest urban area in Texas, and is within a Central Texas corridor that has experienced increased suburban development for a number of years. Transformation from rural to suburban setting is ongoing in parts of the area. The map provides a basic geologic framework to aid in managing water and earth resources, planning land use, identifying aquifer recharge areas, and identifying sources of aggregate and other earth resources.

Surface geology displayed by the map consists of as much as 900 ft of Lower Cretaceous strata that are dissected by the Pedernales River at the north part of the map, the Blanco River at the southwest map area, and numerous creeks. In general, units gently dip and thicken toward the southeast. A few faults of the Miocene-age Balcones Fault Zone cut these rocks at the southeast part of the map. The oldest Cretaceous strata consist of alluvial fan, fluvial, and deltaic deposits of the Sycamore Sand. These rocks unconformably overly buried Paleozoic rocks, marking a time gap of about 200 m.y. Overlying Sycamore Sand, the Hammett Shale and Cow Creek Limestone represent shallow shelf to beach and near-shore deposition. Younger Hensell Sand contains terrigenous clastic rocks that grade and interfinger laterally with near-shore marine facies toward the east and southeast and with the overlying Glen Rose Limestone. Glen Rose Limestone consists of a thick (as much as 700 ft) section of shallow-shelf carbonate rocks and lesser common supratidal deposits. Overlying Walnut rocks (also called the basal nodular member of the Edwards Limestone west of the map area) represent transgressive argillaceous shelf deposits. A few hills in the central part of the map area are also capped by shallow shelf deposits of the Edwards Limestone, although within the Balcones Fault Zone at the southeast part of the study area, Edwards Limestone is more common. The area also contains Quaternary terrace sand and gravel of the Pedernales and Blanco Rivers, and smaller creeks. The Hill Country Trinity Aquifer, composed of Sycamore through Glen Rose water-bearing strata, is an important groundwater resource in the area. Part of the Edwards Aquifer, a major groundwater source, lies in the southeast map area.

AcknowledgmentsGeology illustrated on this map is based on field and aerial-photograph interpretations following a review of previous work on the area’s geology. Previous regional maps include the 1:250,000-scale Austin Sheet (Proctor and others, 1974) and Llano Sheet (Barnes, 1981). Other geologic maps reviewed include a master’s thesis map, 1:24,000, by Grimshaw (1970) for the Wimberley area, a 1:125,000-scale map of Hays County by DeCook (1963), and a 1:24,000-scale map of the Hammetts Crossing quadrangle by Barnes (1982a). Bureau of Economic Geology open-file maps of the Shingle Hills, Dripping Springs, Driftwood, Rough Hollow, and Henly quadrangles (Collins, 2002a, b, c, d, e), scale, 1:24,000, were produced for previous STATEMAP work (award number 01HQAG0039) and incorporated into this 2016–2017 study. Additional new mapping subdivision of the Glen Rose Formation was done this project year. The study benefited from the subsurface and outcrop interpretations described in The Hydrogeologic Atlas of the Hill Country Trinity Aquifer, Blanco, Hays, and Travis Counties, Central Texas (Wierman and others, 2010), a key source of information for any geologic and hydrologic study in the area. Geologic guidebooks that aided the study are by Wermund and Barnes (2003), Hunt and others (2007), and Hunt and others (2011). Geology along the Blanco River in the southwest part of the map was adapted from DeCook (1963) and Stricklin and others (1971). Note that within the Blanco River area and other parts of Central Texas, Clark and others (2016) propose a new nomenclature consisting of 13 hydrostratigraphic units for the Cretaceous Hammett through Glen Rose stratigraphic section. The topographic base was created from digital files of the Texas Natural Resources Information Services (TNRIS) for U.S. Geological Survey, Shingle Hills, Dripping Springs, Driftwood, Rough Hollow, Henly, and Hammetts Crossing, Texas, 7.5-minute topograph-ic quadrangle maps. Digital files of roads, railroads, county boundaries,drainage, and lakes were also obtained through TNRIS.

Work for this map was funded in part by the U.S. Geological Survey National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program under STATEMAP award numbers G16AC00194, 2016, and 01HQAG0039, 2001, and by the Bureau of Economic Geology STARR program. The study also benefited from work in nearby areas funded in part by the U.S. Geological Survey National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program under STATEMAP award number G15AC00250. Editing was by Stephanie D. Jones. Computer graphics work done to construct this map was by Francine Mastrangelo. Views and conclusions contained in this map should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government. The author disclaims any responsibility or liability for interpretations from this map.

References

Abbott, P.L., 1973, The Edwards Limestone in the Balcones Fault Zone, south-central Texas: The University of Texas at Austin, Ph.D. dissertation, 122 p.

Amsbury, D.L., 1974, Stratigraphic petrology of lower and middle Trinity rocks on the San Marcos platform, south-central Texas: Geoscience and Man, v. 8, p. 1–35.

Barnes, V.E., 1948, Ouachita facies in Central Texas: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations, No. 2, 12 p.

Barnes, V.E., 1981, Llano Sheet: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Geologic Atlas of Texas, scale 1:250,000.

Barnes, V.E., 1982a, Geology of the Hammett’s Crossing quadrangle, Blanco, Hays, and Travis Counties, Texas, scale 1:24,000.

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Clark, A. K., Golab, J. A., and Morris, R. R., 2016, Geologic framework, hydrostratigraphy, and ichnology of the Blanco, Payton, and Rough Hollow 7.5-minute quadrangles, Blanco, Comal, Hays, and Kendall Counties, Texas: U. S. Geologi-cal Survey, Scientific Investigations Map 3363, version 1.1, scale 1:24,000, 21 p.

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Hopkins, J., 2007, Lithofacies, depositional environments, and paleopedogenesis of the Hensel Formation, Central Texas, in Hunt, B.B., Woodruff, C.M., Jr, and Collins, E.W., trip coordinators, Reimers Ranch and Westcave Preserve: landscapes, water, and Lower Cretaceous stratigraphy of the Pedernales watershed, western Travis County, Texas, Austin Geological Society Guidebook 28, p. 42–53.

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Hunt, B.B., Smith, B.A., and Fieseler, R.G., 2011, Stop 2. Schematic composite measured section, Flat Creek Ranch, Blanco County, Texas, in Hunt, B.B., Wierman, D.A., Broun, A.S., Woodruff, C.M., Jr., and Fieseler, R.G., Surface to subsurface Trinity lithostratigraphy: implications for groundwater availability in the Hill Country, eastern Blanco and northern Hays Counties, Texas: Austin Geological Society Guidebook 33, p. 9.

Hunt, B.B., Wierman, D.A., Broun, A.S., Woodruff, C.M., Jr., and Fieseler, R.G., 2011, Surface to subsurface Trinity lithostratigraphy: implications for groundwater availability in the Hill Country, eastern Blanco and northern Hays Coun-ties, Texas, Austin Geological Society Guidebook 33, p. 11.

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Kerans, C., Zahm, C., and Voorhees, K., 2014, The Aptian composite sequence in Texas—shoreline to deep shelf profile of OEA 1A, Lower Cretaceous of Central Texas: Bureau of Economic Geology, Reservoir Characterization Laboratory Field Trip Guidebook, October 23–25, 57 p.

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Moore, C.M., 1996, Anatomy of a sequence boundary�Lower Cretaceous Glen Rose/Fredericksburg, Central Texas Platform: GCAGS Transactions, v. 46, p. 313–320.

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Proctor, C.B., Jr., Brown, T.E., McGowen, J.H., Waechter, N.B., and Barnes, B.E., 1974, Austin sheet: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Geologic Atlas of Texas, scale 1:250,000. Revised 1981.

Rodda, P.U., Garner, L.E., and Dawe, G.L., 1970, Austin west, Travis County, Texas: The University of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geology, Geologic Quadrangle Map 38, 11 p., scale 1:24,000.

Rose, P.R., 1972, Edwards Group, surface and subsurface, Central Texas: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology Report of Investigations No. 74, 198 p.

Salvador, A., and Quezada Muneton, J.M., 1989, Stratigraphic correlation chart, the Gulf of Mexico Basin: Geological Society of America, v. J, The Geology of North America (GNA-J), Plate 5.

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Stricklin, F.L., Jr., Smith, C.I., and Lozo, F.E., 1971, Stratigraphy of Lower Cretaceous Trinity deposits of Central Texas: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology Report of Investigations No. 71, 63 p.

Ward, W.C., 2008, Stratigraphy of the Canyon Lake Gorge, in Ward, W.C., Molineux, A., Valentine, S., and Woodruff, C.M., Jr., Canyon Dam spillway Gorge, Comal County, Texas—geologic and hydrologic issues: Austin Geological Society, Field Trip Guidebook 30, p. 13–28.

Ward, W.C., and Ward, W.B., 2007, Stratigraphy of the middle part of Glen Rose Formation (Lower Albian), Canyon Lake Gorge, Central Texas, in Scott, R.W., ed., Cretaceous rudists and carbonate platforms: environmental feedback, SEPM Special Publication 87, p. 193–210.

Wermund, E.G., and Barnes, V.E., 2003, Down to Earth at Pedernales Falls State Park, Texas: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Down to Earth Guidebook 5, 48 p.

Wierman, D.A., Broun, A.S., and Hunt, B.B., 2010, Hydrogeologic atlas of the Hill Country Trinity Aquifer, Blanco, Hays, and Travis Counties, Central Texas: Prepared by the Hays–Trinity, Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer, and Blanco Pedernales Groundwater Conservation Districts, 17 Plates + DVD.

Qal

Qht

Qt

Ked

Kedk

Kw

Kgrl

Kgru

Kgrud

Khe

Kcc

Kha

Ks

IPmf

UD

1000

SCALE 1:50,0000 .5 21 3 5 MILES4

0 1 2 4 6 10 KILOMETERS8

UNIVERSAL TRANSVERSE MERCATOR PROJECTION, ZONE 14N, NAD 83

N

MN4°

Approximate 2017 Magnetic North (MN) declination

TEXAS

Hammetts

Crossing

Henly

Shingle

Hills

Dripping

Springs

30° 00'

30° 22' 98°15' 98° 00'

Rough

Hollow

Driftwood

GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE SHINGLE HILLS–DRIPPING SPRINGS–DRIFTWOOD–ROUGH HOLLOW–HENLY–HAMMETTS CROSSING AREA, CENTRAL TEXAS

Edward W. Collins2017

98°15'

A

30°15'

98°15'30°00'

30°07'30"

98° 07' 30''98°00'

30°00'A'

98° 07' 30''98°00'

30°22'30"

30°15'

30°07'30"

1200

1100

1100

1000

10 00

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800

1 000

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5,8

7

3

10

9

4,7

7

5 5

5

5

7

7

7

7

7

7

7

WalnutSpring

BellSpring

JacobsWell

Lake Travis

UD

U D

UD

UD

UD U

D

UD

UD

U D UD

UD

DU

DU

UD

UD

DU

UD

U D

UD

UD

UD

TRAVIS COUNTY

HAYS COUNTY

BLAN

CO

CO

UN

TYH

AYS

CO

UN

TY

Khe

Kgrl

Kgrl

Khe

Kgru

Khe

Qht

Kha

Ks

Kcc

Ks KhaKcc

Khe

Kcc

Khe

Kgrl

Kgru

Kgru

Qt

Kgru

Kgru

Qt

Ked Kw

KwKed

Kgrud

Kgrud

Kw

Kgru

Qt

Kgru

Qt

KgruKgrud

Kw

Ked

Kgrud

Kgrud

Kgru

Kgru

Kw

Ked

Kgrud

Kw

Kgru

KheKheKccKha

Khe

Kcc

Kgrl

Kgrl

Khe

Khe

Kgrl

Kha

Kcc

Kgrl

Kgrud

Kw

Kgru

Kgru

Kgru

Kgrud

Qt

Qt

Qt

Qt

Qt

Qt

Qt

Kgru

Kgru

Kgrud

Kw

Kgru

Kgru

Qal

Kgrud

Kgru

Kgrud

Qt

Kedk

Kedk

Kedk

Kw

Kedk

Kw

Kw

Kgru

Kgrud

Kgrud

Kgrud

KwKgrud

KedkKgrud

Kgru

Qt

Qt

Kw

Kedk

KgrudKw

Qal

Qt

Qal

Kgrl

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tern

ary

Low

er C

reta

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ian

Apt

ian

1.8

Chronostratigraphicunits

Time

Ma

97.5

113

119

Pennsylvanian

286

Chronostratigraph fromSalvador and QuezadaMuñeton (1989) andKerans and others (2014)

320

EdwardsPlateau

(Rose, 1972)

BalconesFault Zone

(Rose, 1972)

Segovia Person

FortTerrett KainerEd

war

dsG

roup

Hammetts CrossingQuadrangle(Barnes, 1982a;nomenclaturefollowing Barnes, 1948)

Map Units

Qal

Qt

Qht

Trav

is P

eak

Shi

ngle

Hill

s

GlenRose

HenselCow

Creek

Hammett

Sycamore

MarbleFalls

Ked Kedk

Kw

Kgru

Kgrl

Khe

Kcc

Kha

Ks

IPmf

UpperGlenRose

HenselCow

Creek

Hammett

Sycamore

Lower GlenRose

Travis, Hays, andBlanco Counties(Moore, 1964;1996)

Travis, Hays, andBlanco Counties(Stricklin and others,1971; nomenclaturefollowing Lozo andStricklin, 1956)

AustinWestQuadrangle(Rodda andothers, 1970)

Walnut Formation

EdwardsLimestone

Kgrud

WalnutFormationKgr5Kgr4Kgr3Kgr2

Kgr1 Gle

n R

ose

Wimberley Area(Grimshaw,1970)

EdwardsLimestoneWalnutFormation

Gle

n R

ose

A - B

C -

G

?

??

?

?

1600

1400

1200

1000 800

600

400

Feet above mean sea level (msl)

1600

1400

1200

1000

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600

400

Feet above mean sea level (msl)

00

ft40

0

4000

ft

Ben

d in

Sec

tion

Verti

cal e

xagg

erat

ion

X10

View

Tow

ard

Sou

thw

est

Sub

surfa

ce d

ata

adap

ted

from

Fla

wn

and

othe

rs (1

961)

, Nic

hola

s (1

988)

, Stri

cklin

and

oth

ers

(197

1), W

ierm

an a

nd o

ther

s (2

010)

.

Kgr

ud

Kgr

ud

Kgr

u

Qt

Qt

Qt

Qt

Kgr

uKgr

udK

grud

Kgr

uK

gru

Kgr

l

Kgr

l

Qal

Qal

Khe

Qht

Kcc

Kha

Kgr

ud

Khe

Nor

thw

est

A

Sou

thea

st

A'

Ked

k

Kw

a

Kgr

u

Kgr

l

Kcc

Kgr

u

Kgr

l

Kcc

Kw

a

Khe

Kha

Slig

o Fo

rmat

ion

Hos

ston

For

mat

ion

Ked

kK

edk

Kw

a

Kgr

u

Kgr

l

Kcc

Khe

Kha

Slig

o Fo

rmat

ion

Hos

ston

For

mat

ion

Pal

eozo

ic O

uach

ita F

acie

s

Kgr

u

Kgr

l

Slig

o Fo

rmat

ion

Hos

ston

For

mat

ion

Pal

eozo

ic R

ocks

Pal

eozo

ic R

ocks

Ked K

w

Khe Kcc

Kha Ks

Khe Kha

Slig

o Fo

rmat

ion

Hos

ston

For

mat

ion

KhaKcc

Khe

Kgr

l

Kcc

Kha Ks

Ks

Flat

Cre

ekS

outh

Gat

lin C

reek

Gat

lin C

reek

Sou

th O

nion

Cre

ekO

nion

Cre

ekP

eder

nale

s R

iver

HAMILTON POOL RD

FM 962

CO RD 101

CO RD 101

RR 1

2

RR

323

2

FM 165

US 290 US 290

CO RD 101

SH 71

FM 150

F

M32

37

RR 1

2

RR 2325

FISHER

STORE RD

RR 2325

RR 2325

RR 2325

FM 150

RR

12

RR 12

RR

12

FM 150

RR 1

2

CO RD 101

US 290

US 290

US 290

US 290

US 290

RR 3232

SH 71

SH 71

HAMILTON POOL RD

HAMILTON POOL RD

FM 962

DRIPPINGSPRINGS

DRIFTWOOD

WIMBERLEY

shinglehills

henly

roughhollow

hammetscrossing

Peder

nale

s Riv

e r

Pedernales River

Pede

rnales

River

Little Bar ton

Onion Cr

Onion CrOnion Cr

Onion Cr

Barton

Barton

Ba

rton Cr

Barton

Barton

Little Barton

Barton Cr

Littl e Barto n

Barton Cr

Onion Cr

Onion Cr

Onion Cr

Onion C

r

Onion Cr

Onion Cr

Blanco River

Blanco River

Pede

rnale

s River

Geologic Map of the Seadrift NE Quadrangle, Texas Gulf of Mexico CoastPaine, J. G., and Collins, E. W., 2017, The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Open-File Map, OFM0232, 2 sheets (sheet 1: scale 1:24,000; sheet 2: digital-elevation model, geophysical logs, time- domain electromagnetic induction soundings, and frequency-domain electromagnetic induction measurements).

This map illustrates the geology at the southern margin of Powderhorn Lake and the western part of Powderhorn Ranch, a planned state park and wildlife management area near Port O’Connor. The area’s geology consists of sediments deposited within Pleistocene barrier and fluvial–deltaic systems and a Holocene bay–estuary system. Map units include Pleistocene barrier and deltaic deposits and Holocene bay margin and valley margin deposits.

25

SL

-25

-50

-75

50

-100

10

SL

-10

5

-5

-15

-20

-25

15ft m

SNE SNE'

Undivided marine, bay,and estuarine facies

-30

25

SL

-25

-50

-75

50

-100

ft m

10

SL

-10

5

-5

-15

-20

-25

15

-30

0

0

1 mi

1 kmVertical exaggeration × 40

Undivided fluvial, deltaicand estuarine deposits

?

?

?

?

Qbsd

Qbc

Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbb Qbb

Qbm Qbm Qbm QbbsQbbs Qbbs QbbsQbbs Qbbs

Qbm Qbbs Qbbs

QbbsQbm

QbmQbbsQbmtfb

dmda

Powderhorn Lake

IntracoastalWaterway

ShoalwaterBay

Espiritu SantoBay

Projected fromPH-09

Projected fromPH-16 PH-10 PH-1

Projected fromTDEM SNE-04

Qbc

undivided fluvial, deltaic, andestuarine dposits

Copyright © Bureau of Economic Geology QAe5648

UNIVERSAL TRANSVERSE MERCATOR PROJECTION, ZONE 14N NAD 83

SCALE 1:24,0001 2 MILES

2 KILOMETERS1

0

0

2017Jeffrey G. Paine and Edward W. Collins

GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE SEADRIFT NE QUADRANGLETEXAS GULF OF MEXICO COAST

N

3º 16' MN

Approximate 2017 Magnetic North (MN) declination

PortLavacaWest

PortLavaca

East

Seadrift PortO’C

onno

r

Seadr

iftNE

LongIsland

Keller

Bay

Pass

Cavall

o SW

Studyarea

TEXAS

Gulf o

f Mexico

Mosqu

itoPoin

t

System Series Time Ma

0.01

1.80

Map and Cross Section Units

Barrier System Bay and Estuarine System

Qua

tern

ary

Ple

isto

cene

Hol

ocen

e

Qelb

QbbQbbs

Qvm QbmtfbQbm

Fluvial-Deltaic SystemQal

Qbc Qbsd

BUREAU OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGYSCOTT W. TINKER, DIRECTOR

JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCESTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

In cooperation with the State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery Programand the U. S. Geological Survey National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program

under STATEMAP award number G16AC00194, 2016

GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE SEADRIFT NE QUADRANGLE,TEXAS GULF OF MEXICO COAST

Open-File Map 0232, Sheet 1

Qal─Alluvium. Sand and clay.

Qvm─Valley margin deposits. Sand and clay.

Qbm─Bay margin deposits. Mud and sand.

Qbmtfb─Bay margin barren tidal-flat deposits. Sand and mud.

Qelb─Ephemeral lake basin deposits. Mud and sand.

Water; Bay

Selected ponded water

Pit

Holocene to Pleistocene (?)

Pleistocene

TDEM sounding. Time-domain electromagnetic induction sounding.

Well logged with gamma and conductivity tools for subsurface lithostratigraphicinterpretations.

Qbbs─Ingleside swale. Sand and mud.

Qbb─Ingleside barrier. Equivalent to the regional barrier facies of the upper Beaumont Formation.Unit includes undivided veneer of younger eolian sand.

Qbc─Beaumont Formation clay facies. Clay, silt, and minor sand in a fluvial-deltaic, interdistributary,and distributary setting. Contacts with Beaumont Formation sandy facies, Qbsd, are gradational.

Modern to HoloceneExplanation

MAP SYMBOLS

Photography used and reviewed in the study was 0.5-m-pixel digital imagery, photographed in 2015, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) 12-in-pixel digital imagery, photographed in 2015. Photography was obtained from Texas Natural Resources Information System (TNRIS) and TPWD. Photography was supplemented by a 1-m resolution digital elevation model (DEM) constructed from a 2016 airborne Lidar survey of the Powderhorn Ranch-Port O’Connor area. Previous regional maps that cover this area include the 1:125,000-scale Environmental Geologic Atlas, Port Lavaca Sheet (McGowen and others, 1976), the 1:125,000-scale map of Distribution of Wetlands and Benthic Macroinvertebrates (White and others, 1983), and the 1:250,000-scale Geologic Atlas of Texas, Beeville-Bay City Sheet (Aronow and others, 1975; revised 1987).

The study included field observations of surficial deposits, collection and study of ground-based electromagnet-ic-conductivity measurements, time-domain electromagnetic-induction sounding measurements, and down-hole gamma- and conductivity-logging measurements for subsurface lithostratigraphic interpretations. Digital files for general topography adapted to this map came from TNRIS for USGS topographic quadrangle map, Seadrift NE. Digital files of roads were also obtained through TNRIS. Water bodies were adapted from aerial photographs, a Lidar-derived DEM, and the USGS topographic map.

Bureau of Economic Geology (Bureau) staff Kutalmis Saylam, Tiffany Caudle, Aaron Averett, John Andrews, John Hupp, and Rebecca Brown acquired and processed airborne Lidar data. TPWD staff Daniel Walker and ranch foreman James Brown facilitated access to Powderhorn Ranch and an adjacent ranch. Editing was by Stephanie Jones. Work for this map was supported partly by the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, with the assistance of STATEMAP award G16AC00194, 2016, and partly by Bureau STARR funds for geologic mapping and study of geologic hazards. Views and conclusions contained in this map should not be interpreted as necessari-ly representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government. The authors disclaim any responsibility or liability for interpretations from this map or digital data or decisions based thereon.

Qal

Qvm

Qbm

Qbmtfb

Qbbs

Qbc

Qbb

Qelb

Qb─Beaumont Formation sandy facies. Sandy clay, silt, and minor sand in a fluvial-deltaic, interdistributary, and distributary setting. Contacts with Beaumont Formation clay facies, Qbc, are gradational.

Edward W. Collins, Project CoordinatorGraphics by Francine Mastrangelo

Editing by Stephanie Jones

Aronow, S., Brown, T. E., Brewton, J. L., Eargle, D. H., and Barnes, V. E., 1975, revised 1987, Beeville-Bay City Sheet: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Geologic Atlas of Texas, scale 1:250,000.

McGowen, J. H., Proctor, C. V., Jr., Brown, L. F., Jr., Evans, T. H., Fisher, W. L., and Groat, C. G., 1976, Environmental geologic atlas of the Texas Coastal Zone: Port Lavaca area: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Geologic Atlas of Texas, scales 1:250,000 and 1:125,000, 107 p.

McNeill, J. D., 1980a, Electrical conductivity of soil and rocks: Geonics Limited, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Technical Note TN-5, 22 p.

McNeill, J. D., 1980b, Electromagnetic terrain conductivity measurement at low induction numbers: Geonics Limited, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Technical Note TN-6, 15 p.

White, W. A., Calnan, T. R., Morton, R. A., Kimble, R. S., Littleton, T. G., McGowen, J. H., Nance, H. S., Schmedes, K. E., and others, 1983, Submerged lands of Texas, Port Lavaca area: sediments, geochemis-try, benthic macroinvertebrates, and associated wetlands: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, 154 p.

Selected References

Contact; dashed where approximate.

Normal Fault: U, upthrown block, D, downthrown block; dashed where approximate

Qbsd

Elevation (ft); contour interval 5 ft5

UD

Topographic depression

Apparent electrical conductivity (in millisiemens per meter, or mS/m) of the ground, measured using a Geonics EM31 ground-conductivity meter in the vertical dipole coil orientation. Value shown is a bulk conductivity from the surface to depths of 10 to 20 ft (McNeill, 1980a and b).

199

Intermittent stream or canal

dmda─Dredged material disposal areadmda

dmda_reworked—Redistributed dredged material. Sand and mud.

Fill─Land artificially elevated by fill

Road

28° 30'96° 30'

28° 27' 30"

28° 25'

96° 30'28° 22' 30"

96° 37' 30"28° 22' 30"

96° 32' 30"96° 35'

96° 32' 30"96° 35'

28° 30'96° 37' 30"

28° 27' 30"

28° 25'

SNE'

SNE

286

131

78

22

23

299199

282 108

322

293

178

271248

191

40 178

106

41

17

17

27

20

TDEMSNE-02

TDEMSNE-01

TDEMSNE-03

TDEMSNE-04

PH-09

PH-16

PH-10

PH-06

PH-01

Qbc

QalQbm

Qbb

Qvm

Qelb

Qbb

QalQbb

Qbbs

Qbbs

Qelb

Qbbs

Qbm

Qbb

Qelb

Qbbs

Qbbs

Qelb

Qelb

Qbc

Qal

Qbc

Qbm

Qbm

QbmQbm

Qelb

Qbbs

Qbb

Qbbs

Qelb

Qbbs

Qbbs

Qbbs

Qbb

Qelb

Qbbs

Qelb

Qbb

Qelb

Qbb

Qbbs Qbm

dmda

Qbm

Qbmtfb

Qbm

Espiritu Santo Bay

Shoalwater Bay

Intracoastal Waterway

Powderhorn Lake

DewberryIsland

dmda_reworkedQbb

Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbsd

UD

UD

U DU D

UD

FM 1289

185

10

10

5

5

5

5

5

10

10

10

10

10

10

5

5

10

10

1010

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

5

5

5

5

10

10

10

10

5

5

10

1 0

5

5

Geologic Map of the Port Lavaca East Quadrangle, Texas Gulf of Mexico CoastPaine, J. G., and Collins, E. W., 2017, The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Open-File Map, OFM0233, 2 sheets (sheet 1: scale 1:24,000; sheet 2: digital-elevation model, time-domain electromagnetic induction sounding, and frequency-domain electromagnetic induction measurements).

This map illustrates the geology at the northern margin of Powderhorn Lake and the western margin of Matagorda and Lavaca Bays. The area’s geology consists of sediments deposited within a Pleistocene fluvial–deltaic system and a Holocene bay–estuary system. Map units include Pleistocene muddy and sandy facies of a fluvial–deltaic setting and Holocene bay-margin deposits.

Copyright © Bureau of Economic Geology QAe5684

UNIVERSAL TRANSVERSE MERCATOR PROJECTION, ZONE 14N NAD 83

SCALE 1:24,0001 2 MILES

2 KILOMETERS1

0

0

2017Jeffrey G. Paine and Edward W. Collins

GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE PORT LAVACA EAST QUADRANGLE,TEXAS GULF OF MEXICO COAST

N

3º 17' MN

Approximate 2017 Magnetic North (MN) declination

Kamey PointComfort

PortLavacaWest

KellerBay

PortLavaca

East

SeadriftNE

Olivia

PortO’Connor

Studyarea

TEXAS

Gulf o

f Mexico

Seadrift

25

SL

-25

50

10

SL

5

-5

15ft m

25

SL

-25

50ft m

10

SL

5

-5

15

PLE PLE'

0

0

1 mi

1 kmVertical exaggeration × 40

Qal

TDEM PLE-01

Qbsd

QbsdQbsdQbsd

Qbc

Qb

QbmQbmbQbmQalQal

Qbc

ChocolateBay

waterwater

Undivided fluvial, deltaicand estuarine deposits

GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE PORT LAVACA EAST QUADRANGLE,TEXAS GULF OF MEXICO COAST

Open-File Map 0233

BUREAU OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGYSCOTT W. TINKER, DIRECTOR

JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCESTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

In cooperation with the State of Texas AdvancedResource Recovery Program and the U.S. Geological

Survey National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Programunder STATEMAP award number G16AC00194, 2016

Qbmb─Bay margin beach deposits. Sand and mud.Qbmb

Qbm

Qal─Alluvium. Sand and clay.

Water; Bay

Selected ponded water

Pit

Pleistocene

TDEM sounding–Time-domain electromagnetic induction sounding.

Qb─Beaumont Formation. Clay, silt, and sand in a fluvial-deltaic, interdistributary, and distributary setting. Includes stream-channel, point-bar, natural-levee, crevasse-splay, and back-swamp deposits. Some coastal-marsh, mud-flat, and lagoon deposits.

Qbc─Beaumont Formation clay facies. Clay, silt, and minor sand in a fluvial-deltaic, interdistributary,and distributary setting. Contacts with Beaumont Formation sandy facies, Qbsd, are gradational.

Modern to Holocene

Explanation

Map Symbols

Photography used and reviewed in the study was 0.5-m-pixel digital imagery, photographed in 2015. Photography was obtained from Texas Natural Resources Information System (TNRIS). Photography was supplemented by a 1-m resolution digital elevation model (DEM) constructed from a 2016 airborne Lidar survey of the Port Lavaca area. Previous regional maps that cover this area include the 1:125,000-scale Environmental Geologic Atlas, Port Lavaca Sheet (McGowen and others, 1976), the 1:125,000-scale map of Distribution of Wetlands and Benthic Mac-roinvertebrates (White and others, 1983), and the 1:250,000-scale Geologic Atlas of Texas, Beeville—Bay City Sheet (Aronow and others, 1975; revised 1987).

The study included field observations of surficial deposits, collection and study of ground-based electromagnet-ic-conductivity measurements, and time-domain electromagnetic-induction sounding measurements for subsurface lithostratigraphic interpretations. Digital files for general topography adapted to this map came from TNRIS for USGS topographic quadrangle map, Port Lavaca, East. Digital files of roads were also obtained through TNRIS. Water bodies were adapted from aerial photographs, a Lidar-derived DEM, and the USGS topographic map.

Bureau staff Kutalmis Saylam, Tiffany Caudle, Aaron Averett, John Andrews, John Hupp, and Rebecca Brown acquired and processed airborne Lidar data. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department Service staff member Joe Saenz facilitated access to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge unit within the study area. Work for this map was support-ed partly by the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, with the assistance of STATEMAP award G16AC00194, 2016, and partly by Bureau STARR funds for geologic mapping and study of geologic hazards. Views and conclusions contained in this map should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government. The authors disclaim any responsibility or liability for interpre-tations from this map or digital data or decisions based thereon.

Qal

Qbc

Qb

Qbsd─Beaumont Formation sandy facies. Sandy clay, silt, and minor sand in a fluvial-deltaic, interdistributary, and distributary setting. Contacts with Beaumont Formation clay facies, Qbc, are gradational.

Edward W. Collins, Project CoordinatorGraphics by Francine Mastrangelo

Editing by Stephanie Jones

Aronow, S., Brown, T. E., Brewton, J. L., Eargle, D. H., and Barnes, V. E., 1975, revised 1987, Beeville—Bay City Sheet: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Geologic Atlas of Texas, scale 1:250,000.

McGowen, J. H., Proctor, C. V., Jr., Brown, L. F., Jr., Evans, T. H., Fisher, W. L., and Groat, C. G., 1976, Environmental geologic atlas of the Texas Coastal Zone: Port Lavaca area: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Geologic Atlas of Texas, scales 1:250,000 and 1:125,000, 107 p.

McNeill, J. D., 1980a, Electrical conductivity of soil and rocks: Geonics Limited, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Technical Note TN-5, 22 p.

McNeill, J. D., 1980b, Electromagnetic terrain conductivity measurement at low induction numbers: Geonics Limited, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Technical Note TN-6, 15 p.

White, W. A., Calnan, T. R., Morton, R. A., Kimble, R. S., Littleton, T. G., McGowen, J. H., Nance, H. S., Schmedes, K. E., and others, 1983, Submerged lands of Texas, Port Lavaca area: sediments, geochemis-try, benthic macroinvertebrates, and associated wetlands: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, 154 p.

Selected References

Contact; dashed where approximate.

Qbsd

Elevation (ft); contour interval 5 ft10

Topographic depression

Apparent electrical conductivity (in millisiemens per meter, or mS/m) of the ground, measured using a Geonics EM31 ground-conductivity meter in the vertical dipole coil orientation. Value shown is a bulk conductivity from the surface to depths of 10 to 20 ft (McNeill, 1980a and b).

200

Stream or canal

dcp─Dredged canal or ponddcp

Fill─Land artificially elevated by fill material

Road

Qbm─Bay margin deposits. Mud and sand.

Intermittent stream or canal

Railroad

Acknowledgments

System Series Time Ma

0.01

1.80

Map and Cross Section Units

Bay and Estuarine System

Qua

tern

ary

Ple

isto

cene

Hol

ocen

e

Qbm Qbmb

Fluvial-Deltaic SystemQal

Qb Qbc Qbsd

28° 37' 30"96° 30'

28° 35'

28° 32' 30"

96° 30'28° 30'

96° 37' 30"28° 30'

96° 32' 30"96° 35'

96° 32' 30"96° 35'

28° 37' 30"96° 37' 30"

28° 35'

28° 32' 30"

PLE'

PLE 172

196

268

244

317

225

218

259297

330

347

298

212

197

254

329

344

344

365

337

337

TDEMPLE-01

Qbsd Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbsd

Qbc

Qbmb

Qbmb

Qbmb

Qbmb

Qbc

Qbm

Qal

Qbc

Qbmb

Qbmb

Qbm

Qbm

Qbm

Qbmb

Qbmb

Qbm

Qbc

Qbm

Qbc

Qal

Qbc

Qal

Qbc

Qbc

Qbc

Qbm

Qbm

QbmQbmb

Qbmb

Qbm

QbmQal

dcp

Qb

Qbm

5

15

15

15 5

15

10

510

10

15

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10 5

5

5

10

10

5

10

5

5

10

10

5

5

55

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

PORTLAVACA

ChocolateBay

CoxBay

RHODESPOINT

L a v a c a B a y

GALLINIPPERPOINT

MAGNOLIABEACH

ALAMOBEACH

Old TownLake

INDIANPOINT

Ma

t ag

or

da

Ba

y

BlindBayou

Powderhorn Lake

INDIANOLAISLAND

MudLake

316

FM 1289

316

FM 2717

FM 1

090

36 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

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38 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

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Li, Y. F., Zhang, T., Ellis, G. S., and Shao, D., 2017, Depositional environment and organic matter accumulation of Upper Ordovician–Lower Silurian marine shale in the Upper Yangtze Platform, South China: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 466, p. 252– 264, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.11.037.

Liu, M., Xu, X., Xu, C., Sun, A. Y., Wang, K., Scanlon, B. R., and Zhang, L., 2017, A new drought index that considers the joint effects of climate and land surface change: Water Resources Research, v. 53, no. 4, p. 3262–3278, http://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR020178.

Long, D., Pan, Y., Zhou, J., Chen, Y., Hou, X., Hong, Y., Scanlon, B. R., and Longuevergne, L., 2017, Global analysis of spatiotemporal varia- bility in merged total water storage changes using multiple GRACE products and global hydrological models: Remote Sensing of Environment, v. 192, p. 198–216, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.02.011.

Loucks, R. G., Frébourg, G., and Rowe, H. D., 2017, Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Ozan and Annona Chalks in Caddo-Pine Island Field, northwestern Louisiana: depositional setting, lithofacies, and nanopore/micropore network: GCAGS Journal, v. 6, p. 73–91.

Loucks, R. G., Kerans, C., Zeng, H., and Sullivan, P. A., 2017, Documentation and characteriza- tion of the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian) Calvin and Winn carbonate shelves and shelf margins, onshore northcentral Gulf of Mexico: AAPG Bulletin, v. 101, no. 1, p. 119–142, http://doi.org/10.1306/06281615248.

Loucks, R. G., and Patty, K., 2017, Vadose diagenetic dissolution textures, cementation patterns, and aragonite and Mg-calcite alteration in the Holocene Isla Cancún Eolianite aragonitic ooids: modern analog for ancient ooid-grainstone pore networks: GCAGS Journal, v. 6, p. 1–20.

Loucks, R. G., Ruppel, S. C., Wang, X., Ko, L., Peng, S., Zhang, T., Rowe, H. D., and Smith, P. L., 2017, Pore types, pore-network analysis, and pore quantification of the lacustrine shale- hydrocarbon system in the Late Triassic Yanchang Formation in the southeastern Ordos Basin, China: Interpretation, v. 5, no. 2, p. SF63–SF79, http://doi.org/10.1190/INT-2016-0094.1.

Lu, J., Carr, D. L., Treviño, R. H., Rhatigan, J.-L. T., and Fifariz, R., 2017, Chapter 3: Evaluation of lower Miocene confining units for CO2 storage, offshore Texas state waters, northern Gulf of Mexico, USA, in Treviño, R. H. and Meckel, T. A., Geological CO2 sequestration atlas of Miocene strata, offshore Texas state waters: Austin, Tex., Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations, no. 283, p. 14–25, http://doi.org/10.23867/RI0283D.

Lu, J., Darvari, R., Nicot, J.-P., Mickler, P., and Hosseini, S. A., 2017, Geochemical impact of injection of Eagle Ford brine on Hosston sandstone formation—observations of autoclave water-rock interaction experi- ments: Applied Geochemistry, v. 84, p. 26–40, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2017.06.002.

Lu, J., Mickler, P., Nicot, J.-P., Choi, W., Esch, W. L., and Darvari, R., 2017, Geochemical interactions of shale and brine in autoclave experiments—understanding mineral reactions during hydraulic fracturing of Marcellus and Eagle Ford Shales: AAPG Bulletin, v. 101, no. 10, p. 1567–1597, http://doi.org/10.1306/11101616026.

Lucia, F. J., 2017, Observations on the origin of micrite crystals: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 86, p. 823–833, http://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2017.06.039.

Luo, G., Hudec, M. R., Flemings, P. B., and Nikolinakou, M. A., 2017, Deformation, stress, and pore pressure in an evolving suprasalt basin: Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, v. 122, no. 7, p. 5663–5690, http://doi.org/10.1002/2016JB013779.

Malkowski, M. A., Schwartz, T. M., Sharman, G., Sickmann, Z. T., and Graham, S. A., 2017, Stratigraphic and provenance variations in the early evolution of the Magallanes-Austral foreland basin: implications for the role of longitudinal vs. transverse sediment dispersal

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Malkowski, M. A., Sharman, G., Graham, S. A., and Fildani, A., 2017, Characterisation and diachronous initiation of coarse clastic deposition in the Magallanes-Austral foreland basin, Patagonian Andes: Basin Research, v. 29, no. S1, p. 298–326, http://doi.org/10.1111/bre.12150.

Maloney, K. O., Baruch-Mordo, S., Patterson, L. A., Nicot, J.-P., Entrekin, S. A., Fargione, J. E., Kiesecker, J. M., Konschnik, K. E., Ryan, J. N., Trainor, A. M., Saiers, J. E., and Wiseman, H. J., 2017, Unconventional oil and gas spills: materials, volumes, and risks to surface waters in four states of the U.S.: Science of the Total Environment, v. 581–582, p. 369–377, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.12.142.

Mao, Y., Zeidouni, M., and Duncan, I. J., 2017, Temperature analysis for early detection and rate estimation of CO2 wellbore leakage: International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, v. 67, p. 20–30, http://doi.org/10.1016/ j.ijggc.2017.09.021.

McNeill, L. C., Dugan, B., Backman, J., Pickering, K. T., Pouderoux, H. F. A., Henstock, T. J., Petronotis, K., Carter, A., Chemale, F., Milliken, K., and 25 additional co-authors, 2017, Understanding Himalayan erosion and the significance of the Nicobar Fan: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 475, p. 134–142, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.07.019.

Meckel, T. A., Nicholson, A. J., and Treviño, R. H., 2017, Chapter 4: Capillary aspects of fault-seal capacity for CO2 storage, lower Miocene, Texas Gulf of Mexico, in Treviño, R. H., and Meckel, T. A., eds., Geological CO2 sequestration atlas for Miocene strata, offshore Texas state waters: Austin, Tex., Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations, no. 283, p. 26–35, http://doi.org/10.23867/RI0283D.

Meckel, T. A., and Rhatigan, J.-L. T., 2017, Chapter 2: Implications of Miocene petroleum systems for geologic CO2 sequestration beneath Texas offshore lands, in Treviño, R. H., and Meckel, T. A., eds., Geological CO2 sequestration atlas for Miocene strata, offshore Texas state waters: Austin, Tex., Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations, no. 283, p. 7–13, http://doi.org/10.23867/RI0283D.

Meckel, T. A., Trevisan, L., and Krishnamurthy, P. G., 2017, A method to generate small-scale, high-resolution sedimentary bedform archi- tecture models representing realistic geologic facies: Scientific Reports, v. 7, no. 9238, 9 p., http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-09065-9.

Mehrabi, M., Javadpour, F., and Sepehrnoori, K., 2017, Analytical analysis of gas diffusion into non-circular pores of shale organic matter: Journal of Fluid Mechanics, v. 819, p. 656–677, http://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2017.180.

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Merzlikin, D., and Fomel, S., 2017, Analytical path-summation imaging of seismic diffrac-tions: Geophysics, v. 82, no. 1, p. S51–S59, http://doi.org/10.1190/geo2016-0140.1.

Milliken, K., and Olson, T., 2017, Silica diagene-sis, porosity evolution, and mechanical behavior in siliceous mudstones, Mowry Shale (Cretaceous), Rocky Mountains, U.S.A.: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 87, p. 366–387, http://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2017.24.

Milliken, K., Shen, Y., Ko, L. T., and Liang, Q., 2017, Grain composition and diagenesis of organic-rich lacustrine tarls, Triassic Yanchang Formation, Ordos Basin, China: Interpretation, v. 5, no. 2, p. SF189–SF210, http://doi.org/10.1190/INT-2016-0092.1.

Moghadam, M. H., Nikolinakou, M. A., Flemings, P. B., and Hudec, M. R., 2017, A simplified stress analysis of rising salt domes: Basin Research, v. 29, no. 3, p. 363–376, http://doi.org/10.1111/bre.12181.

Newell, P., Martinez, M. J., and Eichhubl, P., 2017, Impact of layer thickness and well orientation on caprock integrity for geologic carbon storage: Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, v. 155, p. 100–108, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2016.07.032.

Nicot, J.-P., Larson, T., Darvari, R., Mickler, P., Slotten, M., Aldridge, J., Uhlman, K., and Costley, R., 2017, Controls on methane occurrences in shallow aquifers overlying the Haynesville Shale gas field, East Texas: Groundwater, v. 55, no. 4, p. 443–454, http://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.12500.

Nicot, J.-P., Larson, T., Darvari, R., Mickler, P., Uhlman, K., and Costley, R., 2017, Controls on methane occurrences in aquifers overlying the Eagle Ford Shale play, South Texas: Groundwater, v. 55, no. 4, p. 455–468, http://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.12506.

Nicot, J.-P., Mickler, P., Larson, T., Castro, M. C., Darvari, R., Uhlman, K., and Costley, R., 2017, Methane occurrences in aquifers overlying the Barnett Shale play with a focus on Parker County, Texas: Groundwater, v. 55, no. 4, p. 469–481, http://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.12508.

Nikolinakou, M. A., Heidari, M., Hudec, M. R., and Flemings, P. B., 2017, Initiation and growth of salt diapirs in tectonically stable settings: upbuilding and megaflaps: AAPG Bulletin, v. 101, no. 6, p. 887–905, http://doi.org/10.1306/ 09021615245.

Ogiesoba, O. C., 2017, Application of thin-bed indicator and sweetness attribute in the evaluation of sediment composition and dep- ositional geometry in coast-perpendicular subbasins, South Texas Gulf Coast: Interpretation, v. 5, no. 1, p. T87–T105, http://doi.org/10.1190/INT-2015-0213.1.

Ogiesoba, O. C., and Klokov, A., 2017, Examples of seismic diffraction imaging from the Austin Chalk and Eagle Ford Shale, Maverick Basin, South Texas: Journal of Petroleum Science

and Engineering, v. 157, p. 248–263, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2017.07.040.

O'Neill, L. C., Elliott, B. A., and Kyle, J. R., 2017, Mineralogy and crystallization history of a highly differentiated REE-enriched hypabyssal rhyolite: Round Top laccolith, Trans-Pecos, Texas: Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 111, no. 4, p. 569–592, http://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-017-0511-5.

Ouellette, J. D., Johnson, J. T., Balenzano, A., Mattia, F., Satalino, G., Kim, S.-B., Dunbar, R. S., Colliander, A., Cosh, M. H., Caldwell, T. G., Walker, J. P., and Berg, A. A., 2017, A time-series approach to estimating soil moisture from vegetated surfaces using L-band radar back- scatter: IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, v. 55, no. 6, p. 3186–3193, http://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2017.2663768.

Paine, J. G., Caudle, T., and Andrews, J. R., 2017, Shoreline and sand storage dynamics from annual airborne lidar surveys, Texas Gulf Coast: Journal of Coastal Research, v. 33, no. 3, p. 487–506, http://doi.org/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-15-00241.1.

Paine, J. G., and Collins, E. W., 2017, Identifying ground-water resources and intrabasinal faults in the Hueco Bolson, West Texas, using airborne electromagnetic induction and magnetic-field data: Journal of Environmental & Engineering Geophysics, v. 22, no. 1, p. 63–81, http://doi.org/10.2113/JEEG22.1.63.

Papadopoulos, I., Papazachos, C., Savvaidis, A., Theodoulidis, N., and Vallianatos, F., 2017, Seismic microzonation of the broader Chania basin area (Southern Greece) from the joint evaluation of ambient noise and earthquake recordings: Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering, v. 15, p. 861–888, http://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-016-0019-0.

Patterson, L. A., Konschnik, K. E., Wiseman, H., Fargione, J., Maloney, K. O., Kiesecker, J., Nicot, J.-P., Baruch-Mordo, S., Entrekin, S., Trainor, A., and Saiers, J. E., 2017, Unconventional oil and gas spills: risks, mitigation priorities, and state reporting requirements: Environmental Science and Technology, v. 51, no. 5, p. 2563–2573, http://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b05749.

Peng, S., and Xiao, X., 2017, Investigation of multiphase fluid imbibition in shale through synchrotron-based dynamic micro-CT imaging: Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, v. 122, no. 6, p. 4475–4491, http://doi.org/10.1002/2017JB014253.

Peng, S., Zhang, T., Loucks, R. G., and Shultz, J., 2017, Application of mercury injection capi- llary pressure to mudrocks: conformance and compression corrections: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 88, p. 30–40, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2017.08.006.

Phelps, R., Kerans, C., and Loucks, R. G., 2017, Reply to the discussion by Rose of Phelps et al. (2014) “Oceanographic and eustatic control of carbonate platform evolution and sequence stratigraphy on the Cretaceous (Valanginian-

Campanian) passive margin, northern Gulf of Mexico”: Sedimentology, v. 64, p. 858–870, http://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12324.

Phillips, M., and Fomel, S., 2017, Plane-wave Sobel attribute for discontinuity enhancement in seismic images: Geophysics, v. 82, no. 6, p. WB63–WB69, http://doi.org/10.1190/ geo2017-0233.1.

Pierre, J. P., Young, M. H., Wolaver, B. D., Andrews, J. R., and Breton, C., 2017, Time series analysis of energy production and associated landscape fragmentation in the Eagle Ford Shale Play: Environmental Management, v. 60, no. 5, p. 852–866, http://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0925-1.

Prather, B. E., O'Byrne, C., Pirmez, C., and Sylvester, Z., 2017, Sediment partitioning, continental slopes and base-of-slope systems: Basin Research, v. 29, no. 3, p. 394–416, http://doi.org/10.1111/bre.12190.

Qiao, Z., Shen, A., Zheng, J., Janson, X., Chang, S., Wang, X., Chen, Y., and Liao, Y., 2017, Digitized outcrop geomodeling of ramp shoals and its reservoirs: as an example of Lower Triassic Feixianguan Formation of Eastern Sichuan Basin: Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition), v. 91, no. 4, p. 801–840, http://doi.org/10.1111/ 1755-6724.13369.

Reed, R. M., 2017, Organic-matter pores: new findings from lower-thermal-maturity mudrocks: GCAGS Journal, v. 6, p. 99–110.

Reible, D., Young, M. H., and Bullard, D., 2017, Water quantity and quality, in Environmental and community impacts of shale development in Texas: Austin, Tex., The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas, p. 113–129, http://doi.org/10.25238/TAMESTstf.6.2017.

Reichle, R. H., De Lannoy, G. J. M., Liu, Q., Caldwell, T. G., and others, 2017, Assessment of the SMAP Level-4 Surface and Root-Zone Soil Moisture product using in situ measurements: Journal of Hydrometeorology, v. 18, p. 2621–2645, http://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-17-0063.1.

Rhodes, J. D., King, C. W., Gülen, G., Olmstead, S. M., Dyer, J. S., Hebner, R. E., Beach, F. C., Edgar, T. F., and Webber, M. E., 2017, A geo- graphically resolved method to estimate levelized power plant costs with environmen-tal externalities: Energy Policy, v. 102, p. 491–499, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.12.025.

Rovithis, E., Kirtas, E., Bliziotis, D., Maltezos, E., Pitilakis, D., Makra, K., Savvaidis, A., Karakostas, C., and Lekidis, V., 2017, A LiDAR-aided urban-scale assessment of soil-structure interaction effects: the case of Kalochori residential area (N. Greece): Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering, v. 15, no. 11, p. 4821– 4850, http://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-017-0155-1.

Rowe, H. D., Wang, X., Fa, B., Zhang, T., Ruppel, S. C., Milliken, K., Loucks, R. G., Shen, Y., Zhang, J., Liang, Q., and Sivil, J. E., 2017, Chemostrati-graphic insights into fluvio-lacustrine deposi- tion, Yanchang Formation, Upper Triassic, Ordos Basin, China: Interpretation, v. 5, no. 2, p. SF149–FS165, http://doi.org/10.1190/INT-2016-0121.1.

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Ryberg, W. A., Wolaver, B. D., Prestridge, H. L., Labay, B. J., Pierre, J. P., Costley, R. A., Adams, C. S., Bowers, B. C., and Hibbitts, T. J., 2017, Habitat modeling and conservation of the Western Chicken Turtle (Deirochelys reticularia miaria): Herpetological Conservation and Biology, v. 12, no. 2, p. 307–320.

Saylam, K., Brown, R., and Hupp, J. R., 2017, Assessment of depth and turbidity with airborne Lidar bathymetry and multiband satellite imagery in shallow water bodies of the Alaskan North Slope: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, v. 58, no. C, p. 191–200, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2017.02.012.

Scanlon, B. R., Reedy, R. C., Male, F., and Walsh, M., 2017, Water issues related to transitioning from conventional to unconven-tional oil production in the Permian Basin: Environmental Science & Technology, v. 51, no. 18, p. 10903–10912, http://doi.org/10.1021/ acs.est.7b02185.

Scanlon, B. R., Ruddell, B. L., Reed, P. M., Hook, R. I., Zheng, C., Tidwell, V. C., and Siebert, S., 2017, The food-energy-water nexus: trans- forming science for society: Water Resources Research, v. 53, no. 5, p. 3550–3556, http://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR020889.

Sharman, G., Covault, J., Stockli, D., Wroblewski, A., and Bush, M., 2017, Early Cenozoic drainage reorganization of the United States Western Interior–Gulf of Mexico sediment routing system: Geology, v. 45, no. 2, p. 187–190, http://doi.org/10.1130/G38765.1.

Sharman, G. R., and Johnstone, S. A., 2017, Sediment unmixing using detrital geochronol-ogy: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 477, p. 183–194, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.07.044.

Sheng, G., Su, Y., Wang, W., Javadpour, F., and Tang, M., 2017, Application of fractal geometry in evaluation of effective stimulated reservoir volume in shale gas reservoirs: Fractals, v. 25, no. 4, p. 1740007-1 to 1740007-13, http://doi.org/10.1142/S0218348X17400072.

Singh, H., and Javadpour, F., 2017, Retention of nanoparticles: from laboratory cores to outcrop scales: Geofluids, v. 2017, 16 p., http://doi.org/10.1155/2017/8730749, Article ID 8730749.

Soltanian, M. R., Sun, A. Y., and Dai, Z., 2017, Reactive transport in the complex heteroge-neous alluvial aquifer of Fortymile Wash, Nevada: Chemosphere, v. 179, p. 379–386, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.03.136.

Sripanich, Y., Fomel, S., Stovas, A., and Hao, Q., 2017, 3D generalized nonhyperboloidal moveout approximation: Geophysics, v. 82, no. 2, p. C49–C59, http://doi.org/10.1190/geo2016-0180.1.

Sripanich, Y., Fomel, S., Sun, J., and Cheng, J., 2017, Elastic wave-vector decomposition in heterogeneous anisotropic media: Geo-physical Prospecting, v. 65, no. 5, p. 1231–1245, http://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2478.12482.

Stovas, A., and Fomel, S., 2017, The modified generalized moveout approximation: a new parameter selection: Geophysical Prospecting, v. 65, no. 3, p. 687–695, http://doi.org/10.1111/ 1365-2478.12445.

Sturrock, C. P., Catlos, E. J., Miller, N. R., Akgun, A., Fall, A., Gabitov, R. I., Yilmaz, I. O., Larson, T., and Black, K. N., 2017, Fluids along the North Anatolian Fault, Niksar basin, north central Turkey: insight from stable isotopic and geochemical analysis of calcite veins: Journal of Structural Geology, v. 101, p. 58–79, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2017.06.004.

Sun, A. Y., Lu, J., and Islam, A., 2017, A laborato-ry validation study of the time-lapse oscilla- tory pumping test for leakage detection in geological repositories: Journal of Hydrology, v. 548, p. 598–604, http://doi.org/10.1016/ j.jhydrol.2017.03.035.

Sun, A. Y., Scanlon, B. R., AghaKouchak, A., and Zhang, Z., 2017, Using GRACE satellite gravimetry for assessing large-scale hydro- logic extremes: Remote Sensing, v. 9, no. 1287, 25 p., http://doi.org/10.3390/rs9121287.

Sun, A. Y., Wheeler, M. F., and Islam, A., 2017, Identifying attributes of CO2 leakage zones in shallow aquifers using a parametric level set method: Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, v. 7, no. 4, p. 649–664, http://doi.org/10.1002/ghg.1665.

Sun, J., Fomel, S., Sripanich, Y., and Fowler, P., 2017, Recursive integral time extrapolation of elastic waves using low-rank symbol approxi-mation: Geophysical Journal International, v. 211, no. 3, p. 1478–1493, http://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggx386.

Tahmasebi, P., Javadpour, F., and Sahimi, M., 2017, Data mining and machine learning for identifying sweet spots in shale reservoirs: Expert Systems with Applications, v. 88, p. 435– 447, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2017.07.015.

Tang, Y., Hooshyar, M., Zhu, T., Ringler, C., Sun, A. Y., Long, D., and Wang, D., 2017, Reconstructing annual groundwater storage changes in a large-scale irrigation region using GRACE data and Budyko model: Journal of Hydrology, v. 551, p. 397–406, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.06.021.

Tokan-Lawal, A., Prodanovic, M., Landry, C. J., and Eichhubl, P., 2017, Influence of numerical cementation on multiphase displacement in rough fractures: Transport in Porous Media, v. 116, no. 1, p. 275–293, http://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-016-0773-0.

Treviño, R. H., and Rhatigan, J.-L. T., 2017, Chapter 1: Regional geology of the Gulf of Mexico and the Miocene section of the Texas near-offshore waters, in Treviño, R. H., and Meckel, T. A., eds., Geological CO2 sequestration atlas of Miocene strata, offshore Texas state waters: Austin, Tex., Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations, no. 283, p. 3–6, http://doi.org/10.23867/RI0283D.

Trevisan, L., Illangasekare, T. H., and Meckel, T., 2017, Modelling plume behavior through a heterogeneous sand pack using a commercial invasion percolation model: Geomechanics and Geophysics for Geo-Energy and Geo-Resources, v. 3, no. 3, p. 327–337, http://doi.org/10.1007/s40948-017-0055-5.

Trevisan, L., Krishnamurthy, P. G., and Meckel, T., 2017, Impact of 3D capillary heterogeneity and bedform architecture at the sub-meter scale on CO2 saturation for buoyant flow in clastic aquifers: International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, v. 56, p. 237–249, http://doi.org/10.1016/ j.ijggc.2016.12.001.

Trevisan, L., Pini, R., Cihan, A., Birkholzer, J. T., Zhou, Q., Gonzalez-Nicolas, A., and Illangasekare, T. H., 2017, Imaging and quantification of spreading and trapping of carbon dioxide in saline aquifers using meter-scale laboratory experiments: Water Resources Research, v. 53, no. 1, p. 485–502, http://doi.org/10.1002/ 2016WR019749.

Tsai, C., and Gülen, G., 2017, Are zero emission credits the right rationale for saving eco- nomically challenged U.S. nuclear plants?: The Electricity Journal, v. 30, no. 6, p. 17–21, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2017.06.007.

Tsai, C., and Gülen, G., 2017, Natural gas use in electricity generation in the United States: out-looks to 2030: The Electricity Journal, v. 30, no. 2, p. 15–24, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2017.01.012.

Ukar, E., Lopez, R. G., Gale, J. F. W., Laubach, S. E., and Manceda, R., 2017, New type of kinematic indicator in bed-parallel veins, Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous Vaca Muerta Formation, Argentina: E-W shortening during Late Creta- ceous vein opening: Journal of Structural Geology, v. 104, p. 31–47, http://doi.org/10.1016/ j.jsg.2017.09.014.

Ukar, E., Lopez, R. G., Laubach, S. E., Gale, J. F. W., Manceda, R., and Marrett, R., 2017, Micro-fractures in bed-parallel veins (beef) as predic- tors of vertical macrofractures in shale: Vaca Muerta Formation, Agrio Fold-and-Thrust Belt, Argentina: Journal of South American Earth Sciences, v. 79, p. 152–169, http://doi.org/10.1016/ j.jsames.2017.07.015.

Van Simaeys, S., Rendall, B., Lucia, F. J., Kerans, C., and Fullmer, S., 2017, Facies-independent reservoir characterization of the micropo-re-dominated Word field (Edwards Formation), Lavaca County, Texas: AAPG Bulletin, v. 101, no. 1, p. 73–94, http://doi.org/10.1306/06101616034.

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Wallace, K. J., Rhatigan, C. H., Treviño, R. H., and Meckel, T. A., 2017, Chapter 7: Estimating CO2 storage capacity in a saline aquifer using

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3D flow models, lower Miocene, Texas Gulf of Mexico, in Treviño, R. H., and Meckel, T. A., eds., Geological CO2 sequestration atlas of Miocene strata, offshore Texas state waters: Austin, Tex., Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations, no. 283, p. 57–61, http://doi.org/10.23867/RI0283D.

Wang, W., Wang, X., Zeng, H., and Liang, Q., 2017, Preconditioning point-source/point-receiver high-density 3D seismic data for lacustrine shale characterization in a loess mountain area: Interpretation, v. 5, no. 2, p. SF177–SF188, http://doi.org/10.1190/INT-2016-0107.1.

Wen, T., Castro, M. C., Nicot, J.-P., Hall, C. M., Pinti, D. L., Mickler, P., Darvari, R., and Larson, T., 2017, Characterizing the noble gas isotopic composition of the Barnett Shale and Strawn Group and constraining the source of stray gas in the Trinity Aquifer, North-Central Texas: Environmental Science & Technology, v. 51, no. 11, p. 6533–6541, http://doi.org/10.1021/ acs.est.6b06447.

Winter, J. M., Lopez, J. R., Ruane, A. C., Young, C. A., Scanlon, B. R., and Rosenzweig, C., 2017, Representing water scarcity in future agricultural assessments: Anthropocene, v. 18, p. 15–26, http://doi.org/10.1016/ j.ancene.2017.05.002.

Wu, X., 2017, Building 3D subsurface models conforming to seismic structural and stratigraphic features: Geophysics, v. 82, no. 3, p. IM21–IM30, http://doi.org/10.1190/GEO2016-0255.1.

Wu, X., 2017, Directional structure-tensor- based coherence to detect seismic faults and channels: Geophysics, v. 82, no. 2, p. A13–A17, http://doi.org/10.1190/GEO2016-0473.1.

Wu, X., 2017, Structure-, stratigraphy- and fault-guided regularization in geophysical inversion: Geophysical Journal International, v. 210, no. 1, p. 184–195, http://doi.org/10.1093/ gji/ggx150.

Wu, X., and Caumon, G., 2017, Simultaneous multiple well-seismic ties using flattened synthetic and real seismograms: Geophysics, v. 82, no. 1, p. IM13–IM20, http://doi.org/10.1190/geo2016-0295.1.

Wu, X., and Janson, X., 2017, Directional structure tensors in estimating seismic structural and stratigraphic orientations: Geophysical Journal International, v. 210, p. 534–548, http://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggx194.

Wu, X., and Zhu, Z., 2017, Methods to enhance seismic faults and construct fault surfaces: Computers & Geosciences, v. 107, p. 37–48, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2017.06.015.

Xue, L., Yang, F., Yang, C., Chen, X., Zhang, L., Chi, Y., and Yang, G., 2017, Identification of potential impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities on streamflow alterations in the Tarim River Basin, China: Scientific Reports, v. 7, no. 8254, 12 p., http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-09215-z.

Xue, L., Zhang, H., Yang, C., Zhang, L., and Sun, C., 2017, Quantitative assessment of hydrological alteration caused by irrigation projects in the Tarim River basin, China: Scientific Reports, v. 7, no. 4291, 13 p., http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-04583-y.

Xue, Z., Zhu, H., and Fomel, S., 2017, Full-waveform inversion using seislet regulariza-tion: Geophysics, v. 82, no. 5, p. A43–A49, http://doi.org/10.1190/geo2016-0699.1.

Yan, P., Juanatey, M. A. G., Kalscheuer, T., Juhlin, C., Hedin, P., Savvaidis, A., Lorenz, H., and Kuck, J., 2017, A magnetotelluric investi- gation of the Scandinavian Caledonides in western Jamtland, Sweden, using the COSC borehole logs as prior information: Geophysical Journal International, v. 208, p. 1465–1489, http://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggw457.

Yang, C., Jamison, K., Xue, L., Dai, Z., Hovorka, S. D., Fredin, L., and Treviño, R. H., 2017, Quantitative assessment of soil CO2 concentration and stable carbon isotope for leakage detection at geological carbon sequestration sites: Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, v. 7, no. 4, p. 680–691, http://doi.org/10.1002/ghg.1679.

Yang, C., Romanak, K. D., Reedy, R. C., Hovorka, S. D., and Treviño, R. H., 2017, Soil gas dynamics monitoring at a CO2-EOR site for leakage detection: Geomechanics and Geophysics for Geo-Energy and Geo-Resources, v. 3, p. 351–364, http://doi.org/10.1007/s40948-017-0053-7.

Yeh, S., Ghandi, A., Scanlon, B. R., Brandt, A. R., Cai, H., Wang, M. Q., Vafi, K., and Reedy, R. C., 2017, Energy intensity and greenhouse gas emissions from oil production in the Eagle Ford Shale: Energy & Fuels, v. 31, no. 2, p. 1440–1449, http://doi.org/10.1021/ acs.energy-fuels.6b02916.

Yoon, H, Major, J., Dewers, T, and Eichhubl, P., 2017, Application of a pore-scale reactive transport model to a natural analog for reaction-induced pore alterations: Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, v. 155, p. 11–20, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2017.01.002.

Young, M. H., Andrews, J. H., Caldwell, T. G., and Saylam, K., 2017, Airborne LiDAR and aerial imagery to assess potential habitats for the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii): Remote Sensing, v. 9, no. 458, 16 p., http://doi.org/10.3390/rs9050458.

Young, M. H., Fenstermaker, L. F., and Belnap, J., 2017, Monitoring water content dynamics of biological soil crusts: Journal of Arid Environments, v. 142, no. 7, p. 41–49, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.03.004.

Zalachoris, G., Rathje, E. M., and Paine, J. G., 2017, Vs30 characterization of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas using the P-wave seismogram method: Earthquake Spectra, v. 33, no. 3, p. 943–961, http://doi.org/10.1193/102416EQS179M.

Zeng, H., 2017, Thickness imaging for high- resolution stratigraphic interpretation by linear combination and color blending of multiple-frequency panels: Interpretation, v. 5, no. 3, p. T411–T422, http://doi.org/10.1190/INT-2017-0034.1.

Zeng, H., Wang, W., and Liang, Q., 2017, Seismic expression of delta to deep-lake transition and its control on lithology, total organic content, brittleness, and shale-gas sweet spots in Triassic Yanchang Formation, southern Ordos Basin, China: Interpretation, v. 5, no. 2, p. SF1–SF14, http://doi.org/10.1190/INT-2016-0095.

Zhang, R., and Fomel, S., 2017, Time-variant wavelet extraction with a local-attribute-based time-frequency decomposition for seismic inversion: Interpretation, v. 5, no. 1, p. SC9–SC16, http://doi.org/10.1190/INT-2016-0060.1.

Zhang, T., Sun, X., Milliken, K., Ruppel, S. C., and Enriquez, D., 2017, Empirical relationship between gas composition and thermal maturity in Eagle Ford Shale, south Texas: AAPG Bulletin, v. 101, no. 8, p. 1277–1307, http://doi.org/10.1306/09221615209.

Zhang, T., Wang, X., Zeng, H., Fishman, N., Katz, B. J., Milliken, K., Wei, M., Loucks, R. G., and Ghanizadeh, A., 2017, Introduction to special section: Lacustrine shale characterization and shale resource potential in Ordos Basin, China: Interpretation, v. 5, no. 2, p. SFi–SFii, http:// doi.org/10.1190/INT-2017-0314-SPSEINTRO.1.

Zhang, T., Wang, X., Zhang, J., Sun, X., Milliken, K., Ruppel, S. C., and Enriquez, D., 2017, Geochemical evidence for oil and gas expulsion in Triassic lacustrine organic-rich mudstone, Ordos Basin, China: Interpretation, v. 5, no. 2, p. SF41–SF61, http://doi.org/10.1190/INT-2016-0104.1.

Zhang, X., Sun, A. Y., Duncan, I. J., and Vesselinov, V. V., 2017, Two-stage fracturing wastewater management in shale gas development: Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, v. 56, no. 6, p. 1570–1579, http://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.6b03971.

Zhu, X., Zeng, H., Li, S., Dong, Y., Zhu, S., Zhao, D., and Huang, W., 2017, Sedimentary characteris-tics and seismic geomorphologic responses of a shallow-water delta in the Qingshankou Formation from the Songliao Basin, China: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 79, p. 131–148, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2016.09.018.

Zhu, X., Zhu, H., Zeng, H., and Liu, Q., 2017, Link between bedrock lithology and sedimentary systems in Lake Erhai Basin, southwest China, with respect to source to sink: Interpretation, v. 5, no. 4, p. ST53–ST64, http://doi.org/10.1190/INT-2017-0026.1.

42 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

Dr. Peter T. Flawn, former UT Austin president (1979–1 985; interim 1997–1998) and director of the Bureau of Economic Geology (1960–1970), passed away May 7; he was 91.

Upon becoming president of UT Austin in 1979, Dr. Flawn declared a “war on mediocrity,” pushing the University to pursue greater academ-ic rigor and excellence. He helped raise the university’s number of fac-ulty endowments from 112 to 851 with the Centennial campaign, and during his 6-year tenure, sponsored research awards grew to $100 million and five new research buildings were built. The Academic Center was renamed the Peter T. Flawn Academic Center

in his honor in 1985, when he retired and became president emeritus.

Said current UT Austin president Gregory L. Fenves, “Peter was a vi-sionary leader at UT, a beloved friend and a wise counselor to me and many university presidents. Whenever the university sought his help—from his earliest days doing geology research in West Texas through his time as president emeritus—Peter always answered the call. His contributions to our great university were immense and we will miss him deeply.”

Born in 1 926, Dr. Flawn studied at Oberlin College and earned his doc-torate in geology at Yale University. In 1949, after a stint at the U.S. Geological Survey, he began an illus-trious career in geologic research at the Bureau, serving as director from 1960 to 1970, and as a professor in UT Austin’s Department of Geological Sciences. Dr. Flawn maintained his ties to the Bureau throughout his life. Said Bureau director Scott W. T i n k e r , “ W h e n w e fo r m e d t h e Bureau’s Visiting Committee in 2000, Peter served as the first chair. I, and the Bureau, have benefited greatly

from his wise, and typically spar-ing, counsel for the past 17 years….Dr. Flawn was without question one of the finest the Bureau has ever produced—or ever will.”

In 2005, Dr. Flawn also helped e s tab l i s h t he Ja ck s o n Scho o l o f G e o s c ie nce s . “ Pe te r F l aw n was inspiring as both a geologist and an academic leader,” said Sharon Mosher, dean of the Jackson School. “His field maps and publications on West Texas geology were an essential source for generations of students. And as president, his push for ex-cellence at UT made a deep impres-sion on me and many professors in the 1980’s, leading to profound and positive changes in the university.”

Dr. Flawn’s numerous scientific hon-ors include election to the National Academy of Engineering in 1974, and serving as president of the Geological Society of America in 1978 and of the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) in 1988. In 1993, the AGI awarded him their most prestigious honor, the Ian Campbell Medal.

In Memoriam

Transitions

Dr. Peter T. Flawn

Donna Gail Hitzfeld “Cole” May , Bureau Administrative Associate from 1995 to 1999, passed away in 2017. Those who worked with her remember her cheerful personality and adept problem-solving skills.

Donna Gail Hitzfeld “Cole” May

Annual Report 2017 | 43

Robert Baumgardner retired in October after a long and varied career that included two stints

at the Bureau. After receiving both a B.A. with Special Honors in Zoology and an M.A. in Geology from UT Austin, Robert began his

Bureau career in 1976 as a research assistant, then served as research sci-entist associate from 1979 to 1992, focusing on the West Texas Waste Isolation Project and the Low Level Radioactive Waste Project.

In 1992, Robert left the Bureau to pursue a career as a freelance pho-tographer, shooting assignments for national and international publica-tions including Fortune , The New York Times , Texas Highways , and Texas Monthly.

This 18-year detour ended in 2010 w h e n R o b e r t r e tu r n e d to t h e Bureau, first working on the State

Map Project before moving on to the Mudrock Systems Research Laboratory consortium, where his studies focused on Wolfcampian-age rocks of the Permian Basin. In 2014 he and co-author Scott Hamlin won the Charles J. Mankin Memorial Award presented by the Association of American State Geologists for Report of Investigations  277, “Wolfberry (Wolfcampian-Leonardian) Deep-Water Depositional Systems in the Midland Basin: Stratigraphy, Lithofacies, Reservoirs, and Source Rocks.” In 2017 he, Hamlin, and Harry Rowe were awarded the Tinker Family BEG Publ icat ion Award for Report of Investigations 281, “Lithofacies of the Wolfcamp and Lower Leonard Intervals, Southern Midland Basin, Texas.”

Robert’s plans for retirement include “starting off slow and tapering off from there,” with plenty of time for volunteer work; travel near and far with navigator/wife, Joan; and sorting through a lifetime of photo-

graphs. He leaves us with these part-ing words:

Retirements

Robert Baumgardner

Setting My Chickens Free (with apologies to William Butler Yeats, Taj Mahal, and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers)

I will retire and go now and set my chickens free.Clean the chicken coop out and turn the WiFi on.Rent that sucker out for South By on Airbnbto out-of-towners and the hipster throng.

Gonna move on up the country, paint my mailbox blue,and mow my lawn for lawns always need mowing.Gonna bide awhile with Joan there in our bungalow for two.And, now, it’s almost time. I’ll soon be going.

I will retire and go now for every night and daya small voice says, “Let someone else describe that Wolfcamp core.”And so it’s onward through the fog, as Oat Willie would say.I take you in my mem’ry as I truck on out the door .

Bureau project manager Rebecca C. “Becky”  Smyth retired at the end of August. Her Bureau adventures began in 1983 with study of Trans-Pecos igneous rocks. After leaving in 1985 to travel the globe, earn an MA in geology from UT Austin, and work as a hydrogeologist for private companies in Austin, Becky returned to the Bureau in 1997 to conduct hydrogeologic investiga- tions of sites impacted by oil and gas activities. By 1999 she was helping to establish the air-borne lidar program, mapping extensive areas along the Texas coast and other national and international locations. In 2006, Becky joined the CO2 sequestration group, becoming a project manager in 2007. Her CO2 group duties included study of onshore and offshore areas suitable for geologic storage of CO2 and groundwater quality over CO2 enhanced oil recovery fields. After a few months of retirement, Becky returned part-time to the Bureau in December to assist with new hydrogeology projects.

Rebecca Smyth

44 | Bureau of Economic Geology : G lobal Reach , Wide-Ranging Research

From left to right: John Gibson (Disruptive Technology), Mike Ming (Baker Hughes), George P. Bush (Texas Land Commissioner), Jim Farnsworth (Cobalt International Energy), Bud Scherr (Valence Operating Co.), Scott Anderson (U.S. Climate and Energy Program), Phillip Ashley (representing Glenn Hegar, Texas Comptroller), Claudia Hackbarth (Shell), Mark Houser (University Lands), Chuck Williamson (Weyerhaeuser Co. & Paccar), Dick Stoneburner (Pine Brook Partners), Christi Craddick (Railroad Commission of Texas), Jon Niermann (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality), Carol Lloyd (Exxon Mobil), Scott W. Tinker (Bureau Director), and Dan Domeracki (Schlumberger).

Visiting Committee

Leaders from Texas state govern-ment, industry decision makers, and major supporters gathered in August for the annual meeting of the Bureau’s Visiting Committee, which provides vital counsel to the directorate and staff of the Bureau regarding research programs and opportunities, strategic direction, and other significant issues that help shape the future direction of Bureau research.

Discussion topics this year includ-ed the Bureau’s impact on future in-dustry challenges, how the Bureau can ramp up its utilization of “big data” and coming computer advanc-es, and issues surrounding the use and re-use of water in hydrocarbon production. Bureau researchers and directors reported on several ma-jor initiatives, including the earth-quake monitoring and mitigation program of the TexNet/Center for

Integrated Seismicity Research ; ongoing research into water re-sources; the launch of the new 3D Resource Reserve and Production research consortium; and land as-sessment using lidar and other tech-nological capabilities of the Bureau’s Environmental Division.

Visit: http://www.beg.utexas.edu/ people/visiting-committee

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Editor Stephanie D. Jones

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External and Governmental Affairs Mark W. Blount, CFRE 512-471-1509, mark.blount@beg.utexas.edu

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Austin Core Research Center Nathan Ivicic 512-475-9561, nathan.ivicic@beg.utexas.eduHouston Core Research Center Randy McDonald 713-466-8346, randy.mcdonald@beg.utexas.eduMidland Core Research Center Andrew Faigle 432-686-9902, andrew.faigle@beg.utexas.eduGeophysical Log Facility Daniel H. Ortuño 512-471-7139, daniel.ortuno@beg.utexas.edu Publications, The Bureau Store Amanda R. Masterson 512-471-7144, amanda.masterson@beg.utexas.eduResearch and Administrative Facilities J. J. Pickle Research Campus 10100 Burnet Road, Bldg. 130 Austin, Texas 78758-4445 512-471-1534, Switchboard; 512-471-0140, FaxMailing Address The University of Texas at Austin PO Box X, University Station Austin, Texas 78713-8924

Director Scott W. Tinker

Associate DirectorsMark Shuster, Energy DivisionMichael H. Young, Environmental Systems Division Jay P. Kipper, Operations

Annual Report 2017 | 45

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